Connecticut news

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

Connecticut news Chapter Menu

National Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

Have a great photo of an American chestnut tree, bloom, bur, leaf, restoration planting, volunteer event, or wildlife interaction? We'd love to see it! (Photo pictured taken by 2025 2rd place winner Eric Sizemore)

First Place receives:
- Their photo featured on the cover of a future issue of Chestnut magazine
- A one-year TACF Seed Level Membership (a $300 value!)
- TACF merchandise

Second and Third Place winners will receive:
- TACF swag
- Recognition alongside the first-place winner in the 2027 Spring/Summer issue of Chestnut.

Submit your entries by December 31, 2026.

Visit the following link for more information and complete submission details: tacf.org/2026-photo-contest/

#AmericanChestnut #PhotoContest #TACF #ChestnutMagazine #ConservationPhotography #ForestRestoration #NaturePhotography
... See MoreSee Less

Have a great photo of an American chestnut tree, bloom, bur, leaf, restoration planting, volunteer event, or wildlife interaction? Wed love to see it! (Photo pictured taken by 2025 2rd place winner Eric Sizemore)First Place receives: - Their photo featured on the cover of a future issue of Chestnut magazine- A one-year TACF Seed Level Membership (a $300 value!) - TACF merchandiseSecond and Third Place winners will receive: - TACF swag - Recognition alongside the first-place winner in the 2027 Spring/Summer issue of Chestnut.Submit your entries by December 31, 2026.Visit the following link for more information and complete submission details: https://tacf.org/2026-photo-contest/ #AmericanChestnut #PhotoContest #TACF #ChestnutMagazine #ConservationPhotography #ForestRestoration #NaturePhotography

1 CommentComment on Facebook

Josh Roudebush win it all bro I might know a few big boys for the shot

A bee enjoying a well deserved break after the chestnut pollination period. The tree it rests on is a hybrid castanea pumila x alabamensis (dwarf chestnut x Alabama chinquapin). ... See MoreSee Less

A bee enjoying a well deserved break after the chestnut pollination period. The tree it rests on is a hybrid castanea pumila x alabamensis (dwarf chestnut x Alabama chinquapin).Image attachmentImage attachment

1 CommentComment on Facebook

Voles got my chestnut, planted spring 2025

August Events! Double check with your states Chapter about events in your area.

Visit the following link for more information on the events: tacf.org/events/category/tacf/

#americanchestnut #Connecticut #northcarolina #SouthCarolina #getinvolved
... See MoreSee Less

August Events! Double check with your states Chapter about events in your area. Visit the following link for more information on the events: https://tacf.org/events/category/tacf/ #americanchestnut #Connecticut #NorthCarolina #SouthCarolina #getinvolvedImage attachmentImage attachment

In a recent article for The Conversation, Dr. Steve Strauss discusses how advances in genomics and biotechnology are creating new opportunities to support chestnut restoration.

We're pleased to see perspectives from a longtime TACF collaborator. Steve served on our Science Advisory Review Committee in 2018 and currently has a pending proposal with TACF to improve genetic transformation methods for chestnut.

Give the article a read and let us know what part of chestnut restoration you're most excited about: theconversation.com/new-genetic-approaches-raise-hopes-for-restoring-the-american-chestnut-to-its...
... See MoreSee Less

In a recent article for The Conversation, Dr. Steve Strauss discusses how advances in genomics and biotechnology are creating new opportunities to support chestnut restoration.Were pleased to see perspectives from a longtime TACF collaborator. Steve served on our Science Advisory Review Committee in 2018 and currently has a pending proposal with TACF to improve genetic transformation methods for chestnut.Give the article a read and let us know what part of chestnut restoration youre most excited about: https://theconversation.com/new-genetic-approaches-raise-hopes-for-restoring-the-american-chestnut-to-its-former-glory-282125

30 CommentsComment on Facebook

Somewhere, waiting discovery deep inside the remote part of a forest towers a thriving blight resistant nut filled American Chestnut (surrounded by dead ones just so we know it was exposed and surviving). We can hope. Taking inspiration from the Dogwood saga.

Professors at S.U.N.Y E.S.F put a wheat gene in to Chestnuts years ago and have growing them

I thought the blight only killed the tree above the ground and not the root system that's why the chestnut resprouts and grows until it gets a scar on it and the blight kills the sprouted tree back down to the ground leaving more viable root system to sprout again in the future.

View more comments

Unlike most forest trees that rely mostly on wind, American chestnuts recruit insects too.

#americanchestnut #EnvironmentalEducation #pollinator #nativetrees #dronefootage
... See MoreSee Less

1 CommentComment on Facebook

Okay, who was in our Monocacy Orchard. MDTACF.

Load more

Subscribe to the CT Chapter Newsletter

* indicates required