The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says the State Forest Nursery needs black spruce cones for reforestation efforts and they'll pay to get them.

Every year, the DNR pays people who collect tree seeds and cones on their property or on state forest land. The seeds are extracted from the cones at the State Forest Nursery and used for reforestation.

As it stands now, hundreds of bushels of black spruce cones are needed within the next several weeks to meet state and county spruce seed orders for spring 2021 reforestation efforts. Seeds from the nursery are used to reforest about 6,000 acres of black spruce in Minnesota each year.

“A low supply of black spruce cones in previous years has left our seed ‘cupboard’ bare,” said Mike Reinikainen, DNR forestry silviculture program coordinator. “We are hearing that there’s a good black spruce cone crop this year – it’s critical we take advantage of this to store up seed for this season and for seasons to come.”

If you're a Minnesota resident who wants to help, the DNR will give you guidance on where you can find black spruce cones they will purchase what you're able to collect. The price this year is $85 per bushel.

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Before collecting cones, residents are advised to contact one of the DNR seed buying stations for more information and instructions for collecting, handling and labeling the cones. The stations are located in:

  • Warroad
  • Baudette
  • Orr
  • Littlefork
  • Tower
  • Two Harbors
  • Hibbing
  • Cloquet
  • The Minnesota State Forest Nursery (south of Akeley)
  • Bemidji
  • Deer River
  • Northome.

You can click here to get the addresses and phone numbers of all the locations and you can get complete information on this program below.

 

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