Park Foraging Permits Required for Acorn Gathering; Daily Quota Set at Two Pounds

OAKENFIELD — The Department of Parks announced Tuesday that acorn gathering in all municipal parks now requires a foraging permit, with a daily quota of two pounds per person — a rule officials say is aimed at “preserving the park’s acorn economy for all stakeholders, including squirrels.”

The $8 seasonal permit, available at the parks office and “eventually online,” covers acorns, hickory nuts, and black walnuts, but explicitly excludes mushrooms, which remain “a whole separate department’s problem.” Permit holders must carry a printed copy while foraging and present it on request to any parks employee or “any squirrel exhibiting enforcement-adjacent behavior.”

“Last fall we had a gentleman filling contractor bags — contractor bags — with acorns,” said parks director Lou Hendricks. “He said he was making flour. Acorn flour! For what army? Two pounds a day is generous. Two pounds of acorns is a lot of acorns. That’s a commitment.”

The quota is enforced by “Nut Wardens,” seasonal staff equipped with handheld scales and a laminated photo guide distinguishing “park acorns” from “acorns of ambiguous origin.” First-time violators receive a warning and a pamphlet on squirrel food security; second-time violators have their gathering sacks confiscated and their names entered in what Hendricks calls “the big book,” declining to elaborate.

Local foragers were split. “Two pounds is fine; I’m making wreaths, not running a mill,” said crafter Dana Whitfield. But self-described “acorn influencer” Pete Marlowe, who posts foraging videos to 12,000 followers, called the quota “an attack on content,” noting his most popular video — “I COLLECTED 40 LBS OF ACORNS (PARK RANGERS CALLED)” — would now be “legally impossible to recreate.”

Nut Warden training — a single Saturday at the parks garage — covers handheld scale calibration, the laminated acorn-identification guide (“park acorns have a certain civic sheen”), and conflict de-escalation for encounters with what Hendricks called “passionate gatherers.” Wardens also learn the pamphlet speech: “Squirrels were here first, the quota is the quota, and no, the two pounds does not reset if you go home for lunch.” The program’s first graduating class of nine wardens received whistles and “the authority of the scale.”

“The big book” — the ledger of repeat violators — currently holds 11 names, which Hendricks reads aloud at the annual parks banquet “to mixed applause.” The contractor-bag gentleman of last fall, identified only as “Mr. Flour,” has since purchased a permit and, Hendricks confirmed, “gathers a law-abiding two pounds like the rest of us.” Marlowe, the acorn influencer, has pivoted to videos about “LEGAL foraging (2LB CHALLENGE),” which Hendricks called “the system working exactly as designed.”