Georgia News
American Chestnuts planted at the Chestnut Oak Baptist Church In Grayson, GA
Jet Toney, a member of the Chestnut Oak Baptist Church in Grayson, GA, wanted to replant the area along Rosebud Road where oak trees had once lived. In September, 2018 he contacted GA-TACF board member Lynne Womack, who works for the Georgia Forestry Commission, and...
Southbound and Down (But Not For Long!)
This short film (~20 min) highlights the story of the American chestnut cabin at Many Streams Ranch, near Rome, GA. This cabin, a former VFW lodge built in 1936 in Camp Hill, PA, was relocated to GA about 20 yrs ago by Dr. Matt Mumber and his family. This film is...
Chestnut Event at Dry County Brewing
In addition to enjoying three days of music and fun at Hemlockfest coming up the first weekend of November (see http://hemlockfest.org/blog/) GA-TACF will be hosting an entertaining public education/membership drive event at Dry County Brewing on Sunday Nov. 11.
Hemlockfest 2018 Nov. 2-4!!
The 14th annual HemlockFest music festival will be held on November 2-4 2018 in Dahlonega, Georgia. This environmental fundraising event features three days of live music, camping, children's activities, canoeing, local arts and crafts, nature walks and information...
GA-TACF Chestnut Harvest is Underway!
A quick update on our fall chestnut harvest season! We have added a second harvest event (see below)! GA-TACF will hold several harvest events this fall, and would also like to solicit assistance from volunteers in our on-going search for American chestnuts in the...
News on Wild American Chestnut Search
The Search for American Chestnuts in Georgia Expands This spring and summer, GA-TACF has focused much attention on our ~14 year effort to locate and collect data on American chestnuts occurring naturally in the state of Georgia. This year, the organization is also...
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Did you know that private landowners - even homeowners with a big backyard - can help support GA-TACF by planting trees on our behalf? Here are just two examples, one a two year old tree planted in Paul Burks' backyard in Atlanta and one a 6 year old tree planted in Scott Frazier's Bottomlands orchard near Taylorsville. Looking good guys!
Read more about planting trees with us here: tacf.org/ga-news/so-you-want-to-plant-some-chestnuts/
The American Chestnut Foundation
Berry College
2 CommentsComment on Facebook
Beautiful form on that second tree
I have room to plant American Chestnut trees! I would definitely plant them, just tell me how to get them.
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
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
1 CommentComment on Facebook
Great video, Martin! Interesting and informative!