Help Us Regenerate Ohio's Forests
Ohio
Help our reforestation efforts by collecting and donating seeds and nuts from walnut, oaks, hickories, hackberry, Ohio buckeye and more.
Join TNC, Great Parks of Hamilton County and Ashtabula County Metroparks in regenerating Ohio's forests by collecting tree nuts from your own yard or other public areas and helping us plant the next generation of forests.
Each year, we restore hundreds of acres of degraded land. Our restoration target is often forest, but getting trees to grow is easier said than done. Using tree nuts and seeds can have significant advantages over planting trees established in a nursery setting. It can also help to save money since seeds can be sourced from local populations that are better adapted to the region’s soils and climate.
Individual trees are healthier when they develop entirely in situ, and it's often easier to supplement with seeds in future years to hedge against drought, heavy predation and other causes of mortality.
Volunteer Planting Days to Plant Collected Nuts
TNC needs your help with reforestation efforts! After collecting tree nuts, bring them to our Dublin office or join us at a restoration site to help us put them in the ground.
Tree Sapling: Help TNC collect and plant tree nuts. © Liss Whiting/TNC
Pin Oak Acorn: Help TNC collect a variety of tree nuts that will help grow the next generation of forests in Ohio. © Liss Whiting/TNC
Buckeye Nuts: We're asking for volunteer help in collecting oak acorns, buckeye nuts, hickory nuts and more. © Liss Whiting/TNC
Tree Saplings: Newly planted tree nuts emerge as young saplings. © Liss Whiting/TNC
Event Dates and Times
Saturday, November 1, noon to 3 p.m at Red Brook Metropark (Ashtabula)
Saturday, November 15, 9 a.m. to noon at Shawnee Lookout Park (Cincinnati)
Tree Nut Drop off Date (no planting)
Wednesday, October 29, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m at Dublin Office (nut donation only, no planting)
Register for Nut Drop-Off or Tree Planting Event
TNC needs your help with reforestation efforts! We invite you to collect tree nuts this Fall and bring them to one of our restoration sites to help us put them in the ground.
Collecting Tree Nuts
Be sure you have permission to collect! Avoid collecting from protected natural areas and focus on trees in local parks or along streets, parking lots or your own yard. Nuts are easy to collect when they’re sitting on pavement.
Shagbark Hickory Fruit: Shagbark hickory fruit is oval to round, about 1½ inch in diameter. The outer husk is quite thick, rough-textured, and green to dark brown. © Peter M. Dziuk via Minnesota Wildflowers
Red Oak Acorns: Fruit is a round to egg-shaped to oblong acorn, a ½ inch to just under 1 inch long, with a flat plate-like scaly cap. © Peter M. Dziuk via Minnesota Wildflowers
Ohio Buckeye Nut: Fruit is a fleshy, globular capsule, 1½ to 2 inches in diameter, golden brown; the surface is leathery and covered in short spines, though it may be bumpy rather than spiny. © Peter M. Dziuk via Minnesota Wildflowers
Hackberry Fruit: Fruit is a round, berry-like drupe, ¼ to nearly ½ inch in diameter, ripening from green to dark maroon in late summer. Inside is a single seed. © Peter M. Dziuk via Minnesota Wildflowers
Pin Oak Acorns: Fruit is an egg-shaped or elliptical nut (acorn) between ½ to 2/3 inch long, with a deep scaly reddish cap that encloses up to 50% of the acorn. © Peter M. Dziuk via Minnesota Wildflowers
Species We're Seeking:
These are the species of tree nuts and seeds we are planning to collect. After collecting tree nuts, bring them to our Dublin office or join us at a restoration site to help us put them in the ground.
- Black walnut (Juglans nigra)
- Pin oak (Quercus palustris)
- Red oak (Quercus rubra)
- Shingle oak (Quercus imbricaria)
- Bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa)
- Chinkapin oak (Quercus muehlenbergii)
- Swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor)
- White oak (Quercus alba)
- Bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis)
- Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata)
- Shellbark hickory (Carya laciniosa)
- Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis)
- Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra)
- Boxelder (Acer negundo)
Interested in learning more?
Members of the TNC Ohio Mitigation Program hosted a webinar on September 9 for volunteers interested in learning more about this opportunity. During the webinar, we provided information about how to participate in this effort, including types of tree nuts we are accepting, how to identify trees, where to drop off tree nuts and more!
Need help with Tree ID?
Check out the Trees of Ohio Field Guide, published by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife.
How to Collect and Process Tree Nuts
Take note of where nuts were collected, recording the species, county, location, date collected and your contact information. Include a few leaves from the tree and a husk from the nut to help confirm the species.
1. Remove the husk (for hickories and buckeye) or cap (for oaks)
Saving only the nut inside. If possible, soak oak nuts for 1-24 hours after collecting to hydrate them.
2. Store collected oak, hickory and buckeye nuts
Along with the collected leaves and husks in plastic, sealable bags. Black walnuts and hackberries can be stored in yard waste bags or buckets. Include the recorded information noted above either on a slip of paper placed inside the bag or written in permanent marker on the outside of the bag. For oaks and buckeyes, include a moist paper towel in the bag to prevent the nuts from drying. Keep sealed bags in a refrigerator and paper bags/buckets in a cool, shady place until you’re ready to deliver them to TNC.
3. Deliver seeds and nuts to TNC's main office in Dublin, Ohio
Located at 6375 Riverside Dr., Suite 100, Dublin on Wednesday, October 29 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. or bring them to a volunteer planting day.
Reach out to Liss Whiting at clarissa.whiting@tnc.org with questions.
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