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Agenda for the 2024 Annual Meeting

This is the agenda for the upcoming 2024 CT Chapter Annual Meeting, held on Sunday, March 24th, 2024

 

10:00 am – Annual Meeting

Minutes of prior annual meeting

Treasurer’s Report

President’s Report

Committee Reports:

      Outreach and Education Committee

      Research Committee

      Communications Committee

      Germplasm Committee

Nomination and Election of Directors and Officers

Old Business — Insurance

New Business – Volunteer waivers and releases

            TACF Fall Meetings at Cromwell Marriott, October 24th-27th

Approximately 11:00 am –Braiding Traditional and Modern Science Toward American Chestnut Restoration” – SaraFitzsimmons, Chief Conservation Officer at TACF.

12:00 pm – Lunch

12:30 pm — Board of Directors Meeting (Open to all)

Minutes of prior board meeting

Report and approval of Budget

Report and discussion of Orchard Management

Breeding Orchards – Awaiting Genotyping results for Great Mt. Forest and Salem.

            Awaiting Blight1 or 2 ratings for Litchfield.

Inoculation at Middletown

            Seed Orchards – Plant seeds from Woodbridge orchard crossed with Phytophthera

                                resistant pollen.

           Grading first round of inoculations.  Thinning of nonselected plots.

Germplasm Conservation Orchards – New Orchard with Ridgefield C.C. at McKeon

                     Farm and private landowners in Harwinton and Killingworth.

           Continue plantings at Wilton, Woodbridge, Denison and a few replacement

                     plantings at Essex, Haddam Neck, Manchester, and Wallingford.

Talks with Heritage L.T. in Torrington for new orchard in 2025.

      Possible pollination of CAES Blight1 or 2 rated trees; Phytophthera resistant trees.

Report by the Outreach and Education Committee (Florian)

  • Earth Day at Woodbury, April 20th
  • White Memorial Foundation Presentation April 20th
  • Berlin LT Presentation, May 1st
  • Science Plant Day at CAES Hamden, August 7th
  • Durham Fair, September 26th -29th
  • Documentary screenings.

Report by the Research Committee (Florian and Jack S.)

      Ongoing Chestnut Bee Surveys

Report by the Communications Committee (Florian)

Report by the Germplasm Committee (Jack M. and Jack S.)

Old Business- Insurance purchase made during special meeting.

New Business- Chapter Planning Template (Kendra and Catherine).

                        Bylaws Committee

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Lucinda’s got a tree to introduce you to 🌳👋
Meet even more trees at tacf.org/meet-the-trees/
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8 CommentsComment on Facebook

This is D2-19-136 if you'd like to view it on our webpage!

Great video, keep them coming.

Great job guys!

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Reminder! TACF's 2025 American Chestnut Photo Contest is going on now, with a new, extended deadline!

The first-place winner will have their photo featured on the cover of a future issue of Chestnut magazine and receive a one-year TACF membership, along with a T-shirt and hat. The second-place winner will receive a T-shirt and sticker, and the third-place winner will receive a sticker. All winners will be recognized in a future issue of Chestnut.

Visit tacf.org/2025-photo-contest/ for all the details.
... See MoreSee Less

Reminder! TACFs 2025 American Chestnut Photo Contest is going on now, with a new, extended deadline! The first-place winner will have their photo featured on the cover of a future issue of Chestnut magazine and receive a one-year TACF membership, along with a T-shirt and hat. The second-place winner will receive a T-shirt and sticker, and the third-place winner will receive a sticker. All winners will be recognized in a future issue of Chestnut.Visit https://tacf.org/2025-photo-contest/ for all the details.

Celebrate the legacy of Rex Mann—forester, storyteller, and passionate champion for the American chestnut—with this limited edition Leave Tracks t-shirt.

Rex devoted his life to restoring forests and inspiring others to care for the land. Now, you can honor his memory and help carry his mission forward.

🌳 100% of the proceeds from every shirt go to The American Chestnut Foundation (THANK YOU!), supporting the work Rex believed in so deeply.

👉 Pre-order now through August 2: scottmann.com/store/Leave-Tracks-In-Honor-of-Rex-Mann-PREORDER-p768130686

Let’s keep walking the trail Rex helped blaze.
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Celebrate the legacy of Rex Mann—forester, storyteller, and passionate champion for the American chestnut—with this limited edition Leave Tracks t-shirt.Rex devoted his life to restoring forests and inspiring others to care for the land. Now, you can honor his memory and help carry his mission forward.🌳 100% of the proceeds from every shirt go to The American Chestnut Foundation (THANK YOU!), supporting the work Rex believed in so deeply.👉 Pre-order now through August 2: https://scottmann.com/store/Leave-Tracks-In-Honor-of-Rex-Mann-PREORDER-p768130686Let’s keep walking the trail Rex helped blaze.

We’re excited to share a new animated video explaining TACF’s RGS program! ... See MoreSee Less

Video image

1 CommentComment on Facebook

Transgenic American Chestnuts are still a much better option. The product of this method will always be a hybrid and that should not be the goal.

One of the greatest ecological disasters the US has ever seen. Chestnut blight wiped out the American chestnut tree in less than 50 years.⁠
A tree that once made up nearly 25% of the eastern forests was reduced to a functionally extinct species.⁠

The Asian fungus Cryphonectria parasitica was accidentally introduced into the United States in the late 1800s. While a few diseased chestnuts were noted in the 1880s and 90s, it wasn't until 1904 that the pathogen was identified in New York City. From that point, the blight spread rapidly. By 1950 the entire range had been consumed.⁠

The fungus causes cankers that spread around the trunk of the tree, girdling it and killing everything above ground. Many root systems still survive today and continue to send up shoots, but these also eventually succumb to blight. Because American chestnuts rarely survive long enough to reproduce, the species is considered functionally extinct.⁠

The American Chestnut Foundation is working to develop blight-resistant American chestnuts that can be used to restore this iconic tree to its native range. Learn more at tacf.org/about-us (link in bio)
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145 CommentsComment on Facebook

I think I may have found an American Chestnut tucked away in a backyard

Incredibly important work…it was such a travesty for our forests!

The trees seem to still be intact outside their range in isolated areas. Theres a few large ones here in central Michigan on a peninsula and again on the Leelenau peninsula in the nw lower peninsula. I keep seeing people chime in about adult trees here and there. Seems like there's hope!

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