VA-Informational Meeting about Identifying LSAs
American Chestnuts have not all been reduced to small bushes by the blight. There are large trees in the woods, some of which have more resistance than others. Clint Morse and the Virginia Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation want to recruit you to bring the large surviving American Chestnuts out of the woods so that we can build to something historic: the first orchard from wild American chestnuts with elevated blight resistance in the country. With the help of The American Chestnut Foundation and with the support of Grayson Landcare, we hope to put that orchard in Grayson County at Matthews State Forest.
Clint Morse will share details of the project and how you can help. There will be many volunteer opportunities for all ages, skill levels, and interests. The goal, at the end of the meeting, is to have a list of projects we can complete in year 1 and volunteers ready, willing, and able to complete these projects. For more details on the projects this group will be pursuing, see the Grayson Landcare write-up: https://graysonlandcare.org/2026/03/chestnuts/
As an added bonus, we will also distribute American and Advanced Hybrid nuts that you can grow today, in your backyard, in raised bed trials we started last year. Learn More.
