ENTERPRISE — Wendell Rock is eager to get the word out about what may be the latest thing in combating slippery surfaces in the wintertime: hazelnut half- shells.

“It’s instant traction, period,” he said.

Rock calls them a natural and effective traction material. The shells’ edges grip the ice and provide a rough, textured surface that’s safe to walk on. They’re not corrosive like salt or chemicals, and the shells won’t harm concrete, walkways or vegetation.

Biodegradable

Unlike rock salt or ice melt chemicals, the hazelnut half-shells don’t damage road or sidewalk surfaces, Rock said.

“They’re biodegradable. There’s no harm to anything,” he said. “No chemicals.”

He said the shells don’t harm yards, either.

“If it goes into your garden or grass, it just keeps the water in it,” he said.

In fact, he said, he knows of people who put them on foliage on purpose.

“There’s a guy in Cove who plants trees for the Forest Service and it keeps the weeds down,” he said.

Easy clean up

The 47-year La Grande service station owner said he was contacted by workers at Eastern Oregon University five years ago who got him going on it.

“They called me and they were getting hazelnut shells out of Salem and it was $600 for a pallet just for the freight, with the shells it was an additional $400,” Rock said.

But those were ground-up shells that made quite a mess. The university hadn’t tried the broken shells and the next year went back to chemicals.

“The next year, they used a chemical and had to replace sidewalks,” he said.

But the half-shells can be cleaned up simply enough by sweeping.

“Once I saw it worked, it went word of mouth from there,” he said.

Thriving business

Now, he sells seven to 10 tons of shells a year. He sells to numerous places in La Grande and has expanded into Wallowa County. So far, shells are available at Goebel’s Service Station in Wallowa, M. Crow in Lostine, the Enterprise Flower Shop in Enterprise and the Market Place and 1911 Lumber in Joseph.

So far, just in Enterprise, people can see the shells providing traction at City Hall, the Wallowa County Courthouse, the Range Rider, Community Bank and numerous other businesses.

“It gets bigger every year,” he said of his business.

The shells come in 25-pound bags that Rock bags himself after hauling five tons at a time from Salem. He said the cost of the fuel to haul them is his biggest expense.

He said he tried purchasing them at Hillsboro, “but they won’t sell them to me unless I get 60 tons a year.”

Spreading the word

Rock said he wants to get the word out about this innovative solution to winter ice.

“I’d just go door-to-door putting them on people’s doorsteps if they would have them,” he said.

He said some people are reluctant to use them for fear of tracking them indoors and onto carpets or hardwood floors. But the simple solution to that is simply to wipe one’s feet before entering.

Even if a few shells are tracked in, they don’t do nearly the harm chemicals will. 

He even suggests carrying a small container of shells in the car to put under tires if a driver gets stuck on ice.

But his main purpose is to prevent injury.

“My main purpose is to keep somebody from falling,” he said. “I don’t want the emergency room full of people who’ve fallen.”

Who: Wendell Rock, La Grande

What: Hazelnut half-shells for traction

Phone: 541-805-5163

Email: wendellrock41@gmail.com