Georgia News

Berry-led research on blight-resistant chestnut trees being developed in north Georgia

Marty Cipollini, TACF’s GA-Chapter science coordinator and professor of biology at Berry College in Rome, GA is working diligently with the help of others to revive the American chestnut through painstaking development of potentially blight-resistant trees.

The late Ralph Henry, who lived on a mountain between Rome and Summerville, used to love to roast chestnuts and those that weren’t eaten were frequently used as hand warmers inside clothing during the cold winter months. When he found out about the research going on at Berry years ago, he contracted with the college and TACF’s GA Chapter to allow a research orchard to be developed on his property. That orchard is now one of the largest and most significant research sites not only in Georgia, but all of the Southeastern United States. Read the full article at the Rome News-Tribune.

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On Friday March 6 faculty and staff at the University of North Georgia (UNG) added about 70 chestnuts by direct seeding to the Hurricane Creek orchard near Dahlonega. Karrie Ann Fadroski, Outreach and Engagement Coordinator for UNG’s Environmental Leadership Center (ELC) and Stacie James, Program Coordinator for the ELC, were assisted by Dr. Martin Cipollini, President and Science Coordinator for GA-TACF as well as several UNG student volunteers. Student participants included Chestnut student intern Lillian McGinnis, Hurricane Creek student intern Jason Richardson, Conservation student intern Reece Maxwell, Kylee Melton, Ava Minor, Mary Alice Olewicz, and Jack Nicholas.

This orchard is designed to screen hybrid chestnuts for Phytophthora Root Rot (PRR) resistance (pure American chestnuts are entirely susceptible to PRR). Seeds selected for this orchard come from trees known or suspected to carry PRR resistance, in this case from two trees at the Berry College backcross orchard. Read elsewhere on our Facebook page about how to protect chestnuts from this lethal disease if you have planted susceptible trees.

To learn more about this work and what you can do to become involved, please come to our annual meeting on May 2 at the Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center in Buford. Details are forthcoming, but the meeting will be held in the morning with lunch and a tour at Cloudland Vineyards in the early afternoon.
The American Chestnut Foundation University of North Georgia Berry College
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On Friday March 6 faculty and staff at the University of North Georgia (UNG) added about 70 chestnuts by direct seeding to the Hurricane Creek orchard near Dahlonega.  Karrie Ann Fadroski, Outreach and Engagement Coordinator for UNG’s Environmental Leadership Center (ELC) and Stacie James, Program Coordinator for the ELC, were assisted by Dr. Martin Cipollini, President and Science Coordinator for GA-TACF as well as several UNG student volunteers.  Student participants included Chestnut student intern Lillian McGinnis, Hurricane Creek student intern Jason Richardson, Conservation student intern Reece Maxwell, Kylee Melton, Ava Minor, Mary Alice Olewicz, and Jack Nicholas.This orchard is designed to screen hybrid chestnuts for Phytophthora Root Rot (PRR) resistance (pure American chestnuts are entirely susceptible to PRR).  Seeds selected for this orchard come from trees known or suspected to carry PRR resistance, in this case from two trees at the Berry College backcross orchard.  Read elsewhere on our Facebook page about how to protect chestnuts from this lethal disease if you have planted susceptible trees.To learn more about this work and what you can do to become involved, please come to our annual meeting on May 2 at the Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center in Buford.  Details are forthcoming, but the meeting will be held in the morning with lunch and a tour at Cloudland Vineyards in the early afternoon.The American Chestnut Foundation University of North Georgia Berry CollegeImage attachmentImage attachment+7Image attachment

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Hard to believe these students are in their late 30s now...

Coincidentally, exactly 17 years ago on March 6, 2009, Berry College students planted the parents of the seeds planted at UNG. Here are just a couple pictures from that day.

Dr. Martin Cipollini, President and Science Coordinator of The Georgia Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation, presented an overview of the organization's Recurrent Genomic Selection (RGS) chestnut breeding program during the Tennessee chapter's annual meeting at Tennessee Tech, subsequently chairing the Southern Regional Science meeting held in conjunction with the TN-TACF meeting. At the latter meeting, chapter leaders discussed how to cooperate to implement RGS regionally and initiated plans for the coming breeding season. They also welcomed newly hired TACF Regional Science Coordinator Zach Anderson who has been working with Dr. Hill Craddock at the University of Tennessee - Chattanooga. Zach's office will be located in Chattanooga. The American Chestnut Foundation ... See MoreSee Less

Dr. Martin Cipollini, President and Science Coordinator of The Georgia Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation, presented an overview of the organizations Recurrent Genomic Selection (RGS) chestnut breeding program during the Tennessee chapters annual meeting at Tennessee Tech, subsequently chairing the Southern Regional Science meeting held in conjunction with the TN-TACF meeting. At the latter meeting, chapter leaders discussed how to cooperate to implement RGS regionally and initiated plans for the coming breeding season. They also welcomed newly hired TACF Regional Science Coordinator Zach Anderson who has been working with Dr. Hill Craddock at the University of Tennessee - Chattanooga. Zachs office will be located in Chattanooga.  The American Chestnut Foundation
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