How You Can Help
If you are looking to volunteer some of your time, talent or treasure to help in the restoration of the American chestnut, you’ve come to the right place! Please email TCAF Indiana President Glenn Kotnik at gro.fca@retpahcni to learn about some of the upcoming volunteer opportunities.
Volunteer Activities
The chapter hosts occasional tree plantings and maintenance, and we would love to have you participate. We also are seeking volunteers to share our chapter activities and education opportunities through our blog.
Leadership Positions
The Indiana Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation has opportunities to serve in leadership roles on its board of directors as well as in officer positions in the chapter. For more information, please contact Glenn Kotnik.
Make a Donation
As a volunteer driven organization, we are extremely grateful to our many volunteers, sponsors and partners. The Indiana Chapter’s current wish list items are:
- Digital camera
- Mounted turkey or squirrel for displays
- Printer cartridges
- AA batteries
- Mailing Labels, Address Labels
- Binoculars
- Fiberglass, telescoping measuring pole
- Laptop for presentations
- Office Laminator
- A Chapter truck
- Towing supplies for the Chapter truck
- Food/Drink donations for volunteer events
To donate an individual item, contact Glenn Kotnik at gro.fca@retpahcni. To make a monetary donation to the Indiana chapter, click here.
Membership
Join the American Chestnut Foundation, and you can select to also automatically become a member of the Indiana chapter. Click here to become a member.
Indiana Chapter Menu
National Facebook
Love grows—just like the American chestnut. 💚
From everyone at TACF, Happy Valentines Day!
Illustrations on our valentines were done by Hal Brindley.
#americanchestnut #explorepage #restoration #conservation #nature #environement #valentinesday
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Seed prep is underway! Meadowview Research Farms staff and Emory & Henry Bonner Scholars are currently bagging seeds that will be sent to TACF Seed Level Members next week. These hybrid chestnut seeds are collected from genomically selected mother trees at Meadowview Research Farms and are one of the only ways to get seeds from TACF. Each seed represents a step forward as we prepare them for distribution to our seed level members; thank you for helping grow the future of the American chestnut!
#AmericanChestnut #RestorationInProgress #ChestnutResearch #ForestRestoration #MeadowviewResearchFarms #ChestnutSeedlings
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A major milestone for conservation science.
Our Director of Science, Dr. Jared Westbrook, has published new research in “Science” showing how genomic tools can transform endangered species recovery. By using recurrent genomic selection, we can predict resilience earlier, shorten breeding cycles, and build a restoration system that grows stronger with every generation.
This model doesn’t just help the American chestnut, it could guide restoration for threatened species across the world.
Read the full article: www.science.org/eprint/SBHDH76BXDK366UMHU44/full?activationRedirect=/doi/full/10.1126/science.adw...
#ScienceResearch #ConservationScience #americanchestnut #restoration #conservation #science #nature #explorepage #chestnuts
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Would this work for the American elm tree?
Across the world...is that like around the world?
Is the American Chestnut Foundation releasing hybrid chestnuts for sale again? I knew you'd shut down the program because you didn't consider the hybrid chestnut tree lineage fixed enough yet in terms of growth pattern. I'm wondering if one can buy chestnut tree saplings again from the Chestnut Foundation?
We’re honored to be highlighted in this AVLtoday feature on the American chestnut’s story in Western North Carolina.
While the path to restoration is long, moments like this remind us how many people care about bringing this tree back to the landscape it once defined.
Thank you to everyone who continues to help this story grow.
Read the article: avltoday.6amcity.com/chestnut-tree-wnc
Photo curtsey of Audrey Snow Owen of PA/NJ TACF
#americanchestnut #explorepage #restoration #conservation #environment #nature #asheville #chestnuts
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I thought American chestnuts didn't have hairs on them or shiny leaves. Is this a chinese hybrid?
Is the photo a back crossed hybrid of American chestnut and Chinese chestnut?
Freedom seekers—enslaved Africans and African Americans who escaped slavery in pursuit of freedom—faced hunger, exposure, and unfamiliar terrain as they journeyed north.
Black History Month provides an important opportunity to honor the past while also recognizing how Black knowledge, leadership, and community continue to shape the present. From histories rooted in land and survival to modern platforms and outdoor spaces where connection and representation matter.
Throughout February, we will share a series of four stories that explore Black relationships to land, legacy, and community, looking at both historical foundations and contemporary expressions.
Read more about Freedom Seekers: tacf.org/black-history-and-the-american-chestnut/
#BlackHistoryMonth #americanchestnut #explorepage #chestnuts #BlackHistoryMonth2026 #restoration #conservation #history
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Hopefully they will be developing a mold resistant tree.
That's a really interesting perspective. I think a lot of woodcraft and other types of knowledge about the natural world, like astronomy, had to be shared. Also, marine skills.
Chestnuts?