The Missouri Department of Conservation is calling on local residents to help supply the state's forests by selling native tree seeds and fruit to the MDC Ozark Regional Office in West Plains.
The collected seeds will be transported to the George O. White State Forest Nursery near Licking, where they will be grown into bare-root seedlings. These seedlings are critical for habitat restoration, conservation work across Missouri and public landscaping.
The nursery processes more than 10,000 orders and ships about 2 million seedlings annually. Cultivating this volume requires tens of thousands of pounds of seeds each summer and fall. For perspective, the nursery requires about 2,000 bushels of walnuts, 6,000 pounds of white oak acorns, 500 pounds of hazelnuts and 500 pounds of plum seeds simply to establish adequate inventories for just those four species.
To meet this massive demand, the West Plains office, located at 551 Joe Jones Blvd., is buying select native species priced by the pound. Drop-offs are accepted from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, excluding state-observed holidays. The nursery will immediately stop accepting a seed once the statewide quota is reached for that specific species. Sellers are highly encouraged to call the local office ahead of time to ensure the MDC is still collecting their target seed.
Because the collection season is tied to natural maturation, buying windows are staggered. The MDC is currently purchasing serviceberry for $7 per pound and black cherry for $6 per pound. Both must be ripe and purple or black in color. Hazelnut is being accepted for $4.75 per pound, provided the seed is light brown, mature and easily pulls from the husk. Wild plum is being purchased for $1.95 per pound, but the fruit must be entirely red, yellow or orange with absolutely no green skin showing.
Starting Sept. 8, the office will begin buying flowering dogwood for $5 per pound; pawpaw for $1.50; shellbark hickory for 90 cents; and mixed hickory and persimmon for 75 cents a pound. Pawpaw and persimmon fruits must be completely soft and ripe to be accepted.
Another purchasing window opens Sept. 21, when the MDC will accept butternut for $3 per pound; chinquapin oak for $2.50; post oak for $1.50; and white oak, Ohio buckeye and red buckeye for 95 cents per pound. Both buckeye varieties must be clean with the hulls completely removed.
Late-season purchasing includes pin oak starting Oct. 1 for $1.25 per pound, and deciduous holly beginning Oct. 22 at $4.50 per pound. Finally, clean, pod-free Kentucky coffee tree seeds will be accepted starting Nov. 26 at $4.50 per pound.
The MDC reserves the right to reject seeds that are immature, of poor quality or mixed with refuse such as leaves and twigs. Individuals collecting fruit and seeds on state conservation areas must obtain a special use permit online at mdc.mo.gov.
