Georgia News

GA-TACF Annual Meeting May 2, 2026

The Georgia Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation

GEHC

GA-TACF will hold its annual meeting on May 2, starting at 9:30 AM at Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center in Buford, GA. The meeting is open to both chapter members and the general public.

Although we will briefly address some business matters, most of the meeting will be devoted to presentations related to our work helping to restore American chestnuts in GA.  Among the business items is the election of directors for the board. The board hereby invites nominations for director positions which should include the candidate’s contact information, a brief biographical sketch, and a summary of why the candidate appears well-suited for board service.

Please register your attendance by reserving admission via the Eventbrite link shown below. More details about the meeting will be added here. Pre-registration via this site is encouraged and is free, however, lunch orders ($15 + tax/fees) must be made using this Eventbrite site (no later than April 30).

Click here for Eventbrite Link

Agenda:

9:30 am Doors open, Coffee and Meet-and-Greet in Founders Hall

Morning session, 10 AM – NOON

1) 10:00 am. Welcome and Introduction by Chapter President Dr. Martin Cipollini

2) 10:15 am. Chapter business meeting:

  • Election of chapter directors, Scott Laseter (Governance Committee chair)
  • Budget report, Vince Payne (Treasurer)

3) 10:45 am. An update from TACF’s CEO Michael Goergen and introduction of Zach Anderson as our new Southern Regional Science Coordinator.

4) 11:15 am. Science updates, Dr. Martin Cipollini (President and Science Coordinator)

  • A Brief Overview of the American Chestnut and GA-TACF’s work
  • Recurrent Genomic Selection (RGS): What is it?
  • Selection for Phytophthora root rot (PRR) resistance in Georgia.

5) 12:00 noon. Lunch directions

Lunch break and Afternoon Session, 12:30 – ? at Cloudland Vineyards

1) Pre-ordered box lunches will be delivered to nearby Cloudland Vineyards. Tickets for box lunches must be purchased via this Eventbrite site by April 30. Select type of box lunch AFTER completing payment during checkout. See details below. *

2) Tour of Cloudland Vineyards and recently planted chestnuts. Overview of how to grow and maintain chestnuts.

3) GA-TACF board members will meet at the end of the day to hold a brief in-person meeting.

We hope to see you there! Please help spread the word.

Dr. Martin Cipollini

GA-TACF President

Bistro Box sandwiches, cold, come with chips and freshly baked cookie:

  1. Chicken salad croissant
  2. Turkey and Provolone Sandwich
  3. Chicken, Swiss, and Pesto Sandwich
  4. Pesto Caprese Sandwich

Salad box lunches, served with a mini sea salt baguette and freshly baked cookie

  1. Cranberry Pecan Salad with Balsamic dressing
  2. Spinach Salad with strawberries, feta, bacon, pecans and a French Vinaigrette dressing
  3. Classic CaesarSalad with croutons, Caesar dressing, and Parmesan

Georgia News Chapter Menu

Georgia Facebook

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

We want to thank all of the volunteers who helped us this pollination season which is now complete! We were able to bag and pollinate 10 different trees (a record for or us) plus we collected pollen from a number of other trees. This work is crucial for our Best X Best (or RGS) chestnut disease resistance breeding program. Altogether, over the past three weeks, we have had 20 different volunteers plus several more who volunteered but had their shifts cancelled due to weather. We thank all of you! GA-TACF is an all-volunteer organization except for a few interns that are obligated to certain orchard sites (Flint, Hurricane Creek).

Our next major volunteer efforts will start in mid-September when we will harvest and shuck burs and tabulate our harvest. Please stay tuned for announcements about these opportunities! Click here to register to volunteer with us or to sign the volunteer waiver form if you have not already done so: theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=99170

Here are a few more photos of our final two days when we were assisted by Berry College students who are working in Dr. Adrienne Ernst's lab this summer.

The American Chestnut Foundation
Berry College
... See MoreSee Less

We want to thank all of the volunteers who helped us this pollination season which is now complete!  We were able to bag and pollinate 10 different trees (a record for or us) plus we collected pollen from a number of other trees.  This work is crucial for our Best X Best (or RGS) chestnut disease resistance breeding program.  Altogether, over the past three weeks, we have had 20 different volunteers plus several more who volunteered but had their shifts cancelled due to weather.  We thank all of you!  GA-TACF is an all-volunteer organization except for a few interns that are obligated to certain orchard sites (Flint, Hurricane Creek).  Our next major volunteer efforts will start in mid-September when we will harvest and shuck burs and tabulate our harvest.  Please stay tuned for announcements about these opportunities! Click here to register to volunteer with us or to sign the volunteer waiver form if you have not already done so: https://theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=99170Here are a few more photos of our final two days when we were assisted by Berry College students who are working in Dr. Adrienne Ernsts lab this summer.The American Chestnut FoundationBerry CollegeImage attachmentImage attachment+3Image attachment

1 CommentComment on Facebook

Great photos...wish I were there to help with this....I got experience operating one of those boon lifts last year!

Here is a short YouTube video showing how we process catkins and store pollen for chestnut breeding purposes. Pollens processed like this are being used in this summer's Best X Best breeding program.

We are still looking for assistance from chapter volunteers for this program!

Volunteers need not have experience; essential safety and pollination training will be provided at the start of each shift. Our next dates will be Tuesday June 9 and Wednesday June 10 (9 am - noon, and 1 - 5 pm shifts). We can only pollinate when it is not raining, but despite the chance of rain on those days we need to make an attempt at it. Our fallback "rain delay" date will be Thursday June 11. Harvest will take place in September and October when we again will need volunteer help.

If you have not already registered to volunteer with GA-TACF, please do so here: theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=99170

After you have registered, please sign up for pollination shifts here: theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=113887

I hope you will be able to help!

The American Chestnut Foundation Berry College
... See MoreSee Less

Video image

1 CommentComment on Facebook

Great video, Martin! Interesting and informative!

GA-TACF friends, members, and supporters:

We are approaching the end of this season's controlled pollination work for our chestnut breeding program, centered at Berry College and a nearby orchard site. At this point we have bagged and pollinated six trees and are looking to pollinate four more. We are again hoping for assistance from chapter volunteers - a good number have helped so far this summer!

Volunteers need not have experience; essential safety and pollination training will be provided at the start of each shift. Our next dates will be Tuesday June 9 and Wednesday June 10 (9 am - noon, and 1 - 5 pm shifts). We can only pollinate when it is not raining, but despite the chance of rain on those days we need to make an attempt at it. Fallback "rain delay" date will be Thursday June 11. Harvest will take place in September and October when we again will need volunteer help.

If you have not already registered to volunteer with GA-TACF, please do so here: theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=99170

After you have registered, please sign up for pollination shifts here: theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=113887

I hope you will be able to help! As I have said in several recent posts, GA-TACF is an all-volunteer organization so there is no "us" without "you"!!

The American Chestnut Foundation Berry College
... See MoreSee Less

GA-TACF friends, members, and supporters: We are approaching the end of this seasons controlled pollination work for our chestnut breeding program, centered at Berry College and a nearby orchard site.  At this point we have bagged and pollinated six trees and are looking to pollinate four more.  We are again hoping for assistance from chapter volunteers - a good number have helped so far this summer! Volunteers need not have experience; essential safety and pollination training will be provided at the start of each shift.  Our next dates will be Tuesday June 9 and Wednesday June 10 (9 am - noon, and 1 - 5 pm shifts).  We can only pollinate when it is not raining, but despite the chance of rain on those days we need to make an attempt at it. Fallback rain delay date will be Thursday June 11.  Harvest will take place in September and October when we again will need volunteer help.If you have not already registered to volunteer with GA-TACF, please do so here: https://theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=99170After you have registered, please sign up for pollination shifts here: https://theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=113887I hope you will be able to help!  As I have said in several recent posts, GA-TACF is an all-volunteer organization so there is no us without you!!The American Chestnut Foundation Berry CollegeImage attachmentImage attachment
Load more