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Virginia wants you to gather, donate your acorns
People donate all sorts of items: clothes, money, food. But here’s a donation request from Virginia officials that you may not have heard about before – acorns! FOX 5's Josh Rosenthal reports.
People donate all sorts of items: clothes, money, food. But here’s a donation request from Virginia officials that you may not have heard about before – acorns!
The backstory:
This week, The Virginia Department of Forestry put out an annual request for acorns, as well as nuts.
"Unfortunately, many of the acorns quickly filling our yards, sidewalks and parking lots will never grow into trees, especially those in cities and towns. That’s where you come in," the press release stated.
Donors are asked to place the acorns in a paper bag or cardboard box; mark the bag with the date, tree species, and location they were gathered; and then drop them off at your closest Department of Forestry location.
Dig deeper:
"All the acorns that get donated every year, we plant tons of them at the nursery," explained Virginia Department of Forestry Nursery Manager Joshua McLaughlin, who told Fox 5 that the seedlings will then ultimately end up being sold, starting next fall.
McLaughlin added that the nursery is not tax-supported, it's self-supported. So, the money that's generated helps keep the nursery running year to year, while the trees that are planted benefit us all.
"You go to Lowes or go to Home Depot, go to the home improvement store, there’s lumber everywhere. I mean, people cut down trees, you need to plant trees back," he said.
What you can do:
More information about how to donate acorns can be found here.
McLaughlin said people can purchase the trees here.
The Source: Virginia Department of Forestry