About the Founder:

“I grew up in New Hampshire, in a house surrounded by Sugar Maples.”

About the Founder

From his earliest years, Tim Seward was surrounded by the rhythms of the forest. Before school, he often ventured out to gather sap from the maples surrounding his New Hampshire home, pouring it into a pot on the family wood stove where it would simmer all day. “My favorite part,” he recalls, “was picking off the little crystals of maple sugar that formed around the lip of the pan.”

As soon as he was old enough to lift a hay bale, Tim spent his summers on his grandfather’s farm, tending to more than five thousand Christmas trees as the operation expanded into new crops. Trimming, spraying, and mowing long rows of evergreens taught him patience, care, and respect for the pace of natural growth — lessons that later shaped both his professional and environmental work.

Raised in the outdoors, Tim followed in his parents’ footsteps, learning to camp, navigate, and explore through Boy Scouts and family expeditions. That curiosity for distant places grew into a lifelong passion for discovery.

During his years in motorsports, Tim earned numerous first- and second-place finishes in off-road racing and even competed in the NORRA 1000, traversing the Baja Peninsula from Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas. After stepping away from competition, he transitioned into long-distance trail riding and overland travel, logging more than 20,000 miles of two-track roads and jeep trails throughout the western United States — much of it through Bigtooth Maple country.

Over the course of his life, Tim has explored 48 states, including Alaska and Hawaii, gaining a rare, firsthand understanding of how geography shapes both people and ecosystems. “The more ground I covered,” he says, “the more I realized how connected everything really is.”

His travels eventually led him to Pocatello, Idaho, drawn by its white mountains in winter and vast golden spaces in summer. “I enjoy fishing, hiking, and sitting in the morning sun under yellow aspens,” he says, “but I’ve always missed the sugar maples.”

Tim and his wife have been married for twenty-five years and raised three daughters, each following their own paths but sharing his appreciation for nature’s quiet lessons. “Everything I build now is with them in mind,” he says. “A legacy they can be proud of… and maybe even a forest they’ll walk through one day.”

That longing for the maple became a mission. On his Idaho property, Tim cultivated three heritage maples, the last planted shortly after his youngest child was born. Now that his children have grown, his focus has shifted toward creating something enduring — a living legacy rooted in the land itself.

The Bigtooth Maple, once common across the Intermountain West, now clings to a few canyons and ridgelines of the Rockies. Tim happens to live in the middle of its surviving range. With both the motivation and means to act, he founded Idaho Mapleworks — a unified mission to celebrate, protect, and restore this remarkable species through science, education, and stewardship.

Tim’s education and career provided the structure for this effort. He holds an Associate of Applied Science, a Bachelor of Science in Business, a Master of Business Administration, and an Allied Health degree in Respiratory Therapy, with additional studies in Biology and Zoology. Though he retired his flight wings after twenty-five years in aeromedical transport, Tim continues to serve as a Respiratory Therapy Department Manager and an appointed member of the Idaho State Board of Medicine’s Allied Health Advisory Board.

“Healthcare taught me how systems sustain life,” Tim explains. “Now I want to apply that same mindset to the land — to create balance, restore vitality, and leave something behind that matters.”

Through Idaho Mapleworks, Tim built a framework for lasting impact.

• Mapleworks Trading Division supports conservation through sustainable commerce.

• Mapleworks Conservation Division advances restoration and education.

• The Bigtooth Collection celebrates nature’s beauty through handcrafted, heritage-inspired pieces.

Together, they form a system as interconnected as the forest itself — one that blends business, stewardship, and education into a shared legacy for future generations.