If you live in the Willamette Valley, you've probably driven past more than a few hazelnut orchards without giving them much thought. But tucked behind those rows of trees is a piece of Oregon history worth knowing—especially if you love locally grown things as much as I do.
It All Started with Five Acres Near Springfield
In 1903, a man named George Dorris planted a five-acre hazelnut orchard at what is now Dorris Ranch, just outside Springfield, Oregon. It wasn't a hobby planting—it was one of the first commercial-scale hazelnut orchards in the state.
Dorris went on to operate a nursery at the ranch for roughly 40 years, producing around 70,000 hazelnut trees per year. Oregon State University Extension estimates that more than half of the trees in Oregon's hazelnut industry can trace their roots—quite literally—back to Dorris Ranch nursery stock.
Oregon Grows 99% of America's Commercial Hazelnuts
Today, Oregon produces more than 99% of the commercially grown hazelnuts in the United States, with the vast majority grown right here in the Willamette Valley. What started with five acres and one farmer's vision has grown into an industry that defines this region.
Why This Story Matters to Me
I love this bit of local history for a very hands-on reason: hazelnut—or filbert, as many of us around here still call it—is one of the locally grown hardwoods I actually work with quite a bit, though not always for the shop. Out on our homestead, I use it for tool handles.
Hazelnut grows with a naturally straight grain that makes it exceptionally well-suited for the job. The longer pieces are perfect for stand-up garden tools like hoes and rakes—strong, lightweight, and comfortable to grip over a long afternoon in the garden. The shorter sections make wonderful handles for handheld cultivators and smaller tools that benefit from a handle with some heft and character.
Some of the handles I've made from Oregon filbert, I've been using for over ten years. They've held up through seasons of hard use and still feel good in the hand. That kind of longevity says something about the wood.
What makes hazelnut especially appealing—beyond how it looks and feels—is how quickly the trees grow. That fast growth makes it a genuinely renewable resource, which matters to me. When I work with locally grown wood, I want to know it's coming from something the land can keep giving.
So when I reach for a filbert handle on a spring morning, I'm holding a piece of the Willamette Valley in more ways than one—its soil, its history, and the hands that have worked it for generations.
Around here, even the trees have a pretty good story to tell.
Source: Oregon State University Extension – Growing Hazelnuts in the Pacific Northwest (peer-reviewed)