Minnesota's state nursery is asking residents to head into the woods and start picking pine cones, and it's willing to pay for the effort. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is offering $95 per bushel for clean, ripe, closed red pine cones this fall, after this year's crop turned out to be the best the state has seen in more than a decade.
The timing matters because red pine cone crops follow an unpredictable, multi-year cycle. According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, red pine trees typically produce good seed crops only every three to seven years, while true bumper crops arrive just once every 10 to 12 years, driven by variable weather, drought, and insect pressures. As reported by the Pioneer Press, the DNR has experienced poor red pine cone crops for eight to 10 consecutive years, a stretch that left the state nursery behind on establishing and planting seedlings.
That shortfall carries real consequences for Minnesota's forests. The Pioneer Press reports the DNR reforests roughly 2,000 acres of red pine annually, a project requiring nearly 1 million seedlings each year, and red pine remains a critical reforestation need simply because the nursery is short on its own seed supply.
Where and How to Collect
Jarrod Amundson, the DNR's seed and cone consultant, described the activity as approachable for families, telling the Pioneer Press that collecting pine cones is a family-friendly outdoor activity. Red pine trees are especially abundant in parts of northern Minnesota, including around Bemidji and Park Rapids, according to the same report. People may collect cones through October, but the window is tight: cones take two full years to mature on the tree, developing from small purple conelets into 2-to-3-inch reddish-brown cones that ripen and release their seeds between early September and late October, per the University of Minnesota.
The DNR's collection guide lays out strict quality checks. Pickers are instructed to slice sample cones in half to verify at least four firm, light-brown seeds per cone, and the agency prohibits harvesting from yard, park, or landscape trees, according to the DNR's seed collection rules. Gatherers are permitted to harvest closed cones from felled trees or from squirrel caches, though the agency warns that pickers may need official permits depending on which public lands they enter, per the DNR's cone and seed collection guidance.
Getting Paid Isn't Instant
Before cashing in, collectors must register as suppliers with the state before selling any cones, the Pioneer Press notes. The DNR's August newsletter adds a practical wrinkle: collectors must register as state vendors before delivering bushels, since the Badoura State Forest Nursery no longer issues same-day checks at drop-off sites. The agency encourages would-be pickers to register before they start collecting, rather than after they've filled a bushel basket.
Red pine isn't the only species the DNR is buying this fall. The agency also collects white pine, jack pine, and various oak acorns, with payouts ranging from $50 per bushel for white pine and bur oak up to $200 per bushel for black spruce cones, according to the DNR's cone and seed collection program. This season, the agency plans to purchase at least 1,000 bushels of red pine from collectors, the Pioneer Press reports.
A Century of State Nursery History
Once purchased, the cones are processed to extract their seeds, which are then sown into nursery beds at the state forest nursery near Akeley, where seedlings are grown for reforestation projects statewide. That facility, the Badoura State Forest Nursery, was established in 1931 as Minnesota's first state nursery following legislative authorization to produce native coniferous seedlings for public land reforestation, according to the DNR's forestry history timeline. On DNR-managed public lands, foresters plant an average of 840,000 red pine seedlings annually, accounting for roughly half of all tree seedlings planted through the agency's state forest program.
The tree carries symbolic weight beyond the nursery ledger. The Minnesota Legislature designated the red pine, also called the Norway pine, as the official state tree in 1953 under Minnesota Statutes § 1.143, recognizing its sturdiness and its historical role in building the state's economic foundation, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State. Per the Pioneer Press, red pine trees continue to support Minnesota's economy through timber sales, while also providing food for wildlife and nesting sites for eagles.
This year's collection push arrives alongside broader stress on the state's forests. Severe late-summer drought across parts of central and northern Minnesota led to early leaf shed in several regions this year, a trend Hoodline previously reported could make fall color uneven across the state. Whether that dry stretch affects how quickly this fall's red pine cones open remains an open question, but for now, the DNR is counting on Minnesotans willing to head into the woods near Bemidji and Park Rapids to help fill its bushel quota before the October deadline.
