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We found seven wild American Chestnuts on this hike on Sheltowee Trace Trail, Red River Gorge, July 9th, and added to our "TreeSnap" data base. ... met a new Forest Friend along the way. .... and earned a beautiful panoramic view of a section of The Gorge, paid for by a challenging climb to the top. 😎
COME ON OUT .... The Sheltowee Trace Trail is 340 miles long. Lots of sections to hike and meet new friends.
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Chestnut Blight is "Mean and Ugly" !!!
Photo taken June 25, 2026 in The Regional Hybrid Chestnut Orchard in partnership between TACF/Eastern KY University/Kentucky Chapter of TACF.
Tree # 2144 is an ugly example of what the Chestnut Blight, "Cryphonectria parasitica" does to American Chestnut and most hybrid American Chestnut trees. This tree was planted 9 1/2 years ago, as a greenhouse potted seedling.
The Chestnut Blight is an airborne fungus, that came over from Asia and was first identified in New York in 1904. It's spores are carried by wind and birds. This blight "is all around us". It's spores enter through cracks or wounds in the bark and then feed on the green cambial layer that is just under the outer hard bark, until the tree is girdled and dies.
This airborne fungus killed an estimated 4 billion full American Chestnut trees. Fortunately, this fungus does not live in the soil, and the chestnut roots survive to resprout and grow, until the Blight again catches up to those sprouts.
TACF has been breeding hybrid American Chestnuts since 1983, breeding in some amount Chinese genes to gain some "Blight Resistance".
3,550 hybrid seedlings, from a variety of parentages, have been planted in this TACF/EKU Partnership Orchard, beginning April 2016. We have been cutting out the weaker trees every year, to get down last year, to the 296 "Better" trees (8.3%).
Leaf samples were then taken on May 22, 2025, to be "Genomically Tested" to determine the degree of blight resistance of each of those trees. Good News: 77 of those Hybrid Americans were found to have 50% Blight Resistance or higher (on a scale where Americans have 0% resistance, and Chinese have close to 100% resistance) That's 2.2% of the 3,550 trees planted. Even better, 37, or 1.0%, of the trees originally planted, were found to have 60% or higher Blight Resistance !!! 😃
Third and Fourth photos show a few of those 'BEST' trees in this hybrid orchard, some of which will be used in the next generation of "Recurrent Genomic Selection" breeding: * * * * * * SHORT VIDEO: tacf.org/tree-breeding/
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Another productive WORK DAY on Tuesday June 16th at TACF/EKU Hybrid American Chestnut Orchard.
Thank you Dr. Jennifer Koslow, Dr. Alice Jones, Dr. Sally Chambers, Ira Hager, Tandy Deskins, Kyle Willis, Harry Pelle, Jimmie Sizemore, Patti Darnell, Ken Darnell
Tasks Completed June 16th:
1. Updated everyone of our ID'd (via Genomic Testing) BEST trees. We have been working 11 years to determine that BEST 1% out of 3,550 seedlings planted * * * * * 😃🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳
2. Pollinated two of our BEST trees, # 2370 (65.9% resistance) and #722 (84.9% resistance), that were pre-bagged on June 5th to prevent open, random pollination. Two selected Pollens received from Virginia orchards BEST trees to apply to our two pre-bagged trees
3. Collected catkins from four EKU selected BEST trees, for their pollen to be sent to Virginia. Trees # 600 (69.9% resistance), # 675 (65.4% resistance), # 860 (72.2% resistance), # 1450 (66.8% resistance)
4. Recording Prime Pollination Dates of our Top 30 trees to add to KY Chapter's "Prime Time Pollination" Worksheet
5. Ran heavy duty STIHL weed eater and clipped small trees around full interior of the deer fence line
6. Added fresh pink "Bird Warning" ribbons around perimeter of deer fence. The black nylon netting is hard to see in certain lighting conditions
Rented a self powered, four wheel drive, terrain tires Scissors Lift for June 16th. Model JLG 260 MRT JLG 260MRT 4X4 ROUGH TERRAIN SCISSOR LIFT RT *REFURBISHED* WARRANTY* ie Genie | eBay Richmond's By Pass Rentals delivered and picked up the Lift, saving us from utilizing a pick up truck to pickup/ return. That self powered Lift reduced the problem of tight spaces and short turns, experienced June 5th. Thanks again to KY Board Member Robert Griffin for MAKING ALL THAT HAPPEN on June 5th, in such tight spaces, with a tow behind lift *******
Thank you again to the EKU Grounds Team for keeping the Orchard mowed, bush hogged, rogued trees chipped up........ for the past 11 years 😃 ...and for the hundreds of Volunteers who have contributed hands on to help prepare for this important and productive day ⭐⭐⭐
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