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Housatonic Heritage Tour of TACF Great Mountain Orchard

Interested in seeing one of Connecticut's beautiful chestnut orchards?

The Great Mountain Forest Orchard sits nestled at the base of Great Mountain off Undermountain Road in Falls Village – Photo by Bill Adamsen
Click on photo for larger view.

Join Ellery “Woods” Sinclair of the Berkshire-Litchfield Environmental Council and the Connecticut Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation for a brief walk into a 300 plantings American Chestnut orchard in Falls Village. This walk includes a presentation about the sudden loss of this valuable, majestic hardwood of the Eastern forest, the dramatic ecological impacts of that loss and the process of restoration. The walk is this Saturday, September 19th at 10:00am – with a rain date for inclement weather (see below).

If you are interested in learning more about the Great Mountain Forest there is a fantastic article written by Mr. Sinclair on pages four and five of the Spring 2009 CT-TACF Chapter Newsletter [~600kb] which can be downloaded in printable form using the link provided. Route 7 or Route 63 to Undermountain Road in Falls Village. The Grove (roughly 3.5 miles from Route 7 on the left, and roughly 1 mile from Route 63 on your right) will be posted with signs for the event. Rain cancels the walk. Rain date will be Sunday, September 20 at 10:00 am. Walk is 1/4 mile, 1.5 hours. *Pre-registration is required: call 860-824-7454 or email WML61 “at” comcast “dot” net to reserve a space.

More information can be found at the Housatonic Heritage web-site or on the CT Chapter of TACF Calendar of events.

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Did you know some plants actually benefit from fire? Recently burned areas often provide the sunlight and reduced competition that species like blueberries and American chestnuts need to flourish.

#americanchestnut #nativeplants #ForestEcology #conservation #NatureEducation
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4 CommentsComment on Facebook

Yes! Across the Eastern US, almost all of our most important keystone , overstory trees are fire adapted (pyrophytic 🔥). (Except in bottomlands/riparian/wetland zones, for the most part). This includes Hickories, the upland Oaks, certain pines, especially Longleaf, and Chestnuts. Many Oaks in particular are struggling with recruitment now due to fire suppression, among many other issues. This process is called mesophycation btw. Mesophytic natives like Maples 're-engineer' forests through their dense, moist leaf litter to retard-fires. Invasives make it worse. This is important because Oaks are THE top keystone plants here, hosting more species of Lepidoptera (Moths and Butterflies) than any other plant genus in the US: 500-900 species. Most of these caterpillars will become inconspicuous "little brown moths" , but they form an important massive bottom-tier of the food pyramid. After all, even though birds can source berries from a variety of plants , it takes 6-9000 caterpillars to raise a single clutch of songbirds.

I really appreciate what you are doing.

Thank you!

PICA, the Printing Industry of the Carolinas Awards, is celebrating its 60th year as the ultimate showcase of excellence in printing, and TACF has something to celebrate too.

Our partner in printing (BP Solutions Group) has entered Chestnut magazine in this competition for nearly 10 years and of those, TACF, BP, and designer Lisa Alford have received an award nearly every year, some of which included multiple awards within the same year!

Chestnut once again received a PICA Award for the 2025 competition, winning “Best of Category” for its “Sheetfed Magazine Series.” TACF is thrilled to have received this honor and to celebrate it with you!

Want to see what this award-winning magazine is all about? Become a member!

#americanchestnut #magazine #science #forestecology #explore
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PICA, the Printing Industry of the Carolinas Awards, is celebrating its 60th year as the ultimate showcase of excellence in printing, and TACF has something to celebrate too. Our partner in printing (BP Solutions Group) has entered Chestnut magazine in this competition for nearly 10 years and of those, TACF, BP, and designer Lisa Alford have received an award nearly every year, some of which included multiple awards within the same year! Chestnut once again received a PICA Award for the 2025 competition, winning “Best of Category” for its “Sheetfed Magazine Series.” TACF is thrilled to have received this honor and to celebrate it with you!Want to see what this award-winning magazine is all about? Become a member!#americanchestnut #magazine #science #forestecology  #exploreImage attachmentImage attachment

1 CommentComment on Facebook

Big congratulations to you Jules! 🎉🎉 This is a well-deserved honor.

We've prepared a completely legitimate and highly scientific quiz.

Take the quiz, then drop your results in the comments:

🤓 Confidently Wrong
🌱 Chestnut Curious
🌰 Chestnut Expert

#AmericanChestnut #TreeID #ForestEducation #ChestnutTrees #NativeTrees
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Weve prepared a completely legitimate and highly scientific quiz.Take the quiz, then drop your results in the comments:🤓 Confidently Wrong 🌱 Chestnut Curious 🌰 Chestnut Expert#AmericanChestnut #TreeID #ForestEducation #ChestnutTrees #NativeTreesImage attachmentImage attachment+7Image attachment

5 CommentsComment on Facebook

I got 3 out of 4!

I got a 4 on this.

🌱

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Just a few years apart: the same wild American chestnut tree before and after chestnut blight took its toll.

Enter our 2026 Photo Contest from now until the end of December!

#americanchestnut #chestnutblight #ForestEcology #NativeSpecies #ForestConservation
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Just a few years apart: the same wild American chestnut tree before and after chestnut blight took its toll. Enter our 2026 Photo Contest from now until the end of December! #AmericanChestnut #ChestnutBlight #ForestEcology #NativeSpecies #ForestConservationImage attachmentImage attachment+1Image attachment

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