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.

“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.

Rock sells 7 to 10 tons of shells a year. He sells to numerous places in La Grande and has expanded into Wallowa County.

“It gets bigger every year,” he said.

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.”

For those seeking hazelnut shells, Oregon should be the place to get them. Oregon led the nation in hazelnut production in 2021 and 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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