KENTUCKY DIVISION of FORESTRY Wins The American Chestnut Foundation 2025 PARTNER AWARD
Kentucky Division of Forestry is a motivated, hands on Partner with the Kentucky Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation. KDF maximizes their support to help restore the American Chestnut by providing land for planting, with maintenance of those trees and by allowing their field leaders to hands on assist with pollinations, nut harvest, cutting out brush and briars. KDF follows Kentucky Revised Statute KRS 149.015 to assist the national effort to develop a blight resistant American Chestnut that can be replanted into its native Forests.
Specific examples of these actions include the KDF Leaders and Rangers in the vicinity of KDF’s Morgan County Tree Nursery. The KY Chapter has three orchards there, two of which are hybrids and one is full American. Partnering with KY TACF, a wide variety of full American seedlings have been planted in KDF’s Tree Nursery. The original full American Orchard was established by KDF in Spring 2006, by digging up and replanting, 61 small wild Americans from several locations on KDF properties on Pine Mountain and Daniel Boone National Forest’s Tater Knob, west of Cave Run Lake.
Over the last two years, KDF personnel have assisted the KY Chapter to plant newly developed full wild American seedlings from other areas of Kentucky, by digging oversize planting holes, and by keeping the seedlings fertilized and watered. KDF keeps all three orchards mowed and protected by a deer fence with high gates around their 18 acre facility. KDF partners with the KY Chapter in cutting out briars and non chestnut tree sprouts that grow up next to the variety of chestnut trees. They are supportive to keep adding new seedlings, as developed.
KDF also schedules their summer interns to work a day with the KY Chapter and the chestnut trees in Morgan County to learn about TACF’s actions to develop blight resistant American Chestnut trees.
KDF allows KY TACF full access to these orchards, during KDF working hours, for our required tasks and checks of the variety of chestnut trees planted there.
KDF also partners in their Morgan County Tree Nursery, with our Partners, USFS Northern and Southern Research Stations, in research projects for both chestnuts and white oaks (which are very important in Kentucky to replenish the forests with quality white oak trees to support the barrel makers who supply the huge Kentucky bourbon industry).
KDF has partnered with the KY Chapter to guide us to larger wild American Chestnuts in Eastern Kentucky where they have observed those trees, or have learned of such trees from landowners in the region.
Additionally, KDF’s Adair and Taylor County team members have protected the 49” X 70’ full LSA American “Adair County American Chestnut” in central Kentucky by respecting the landowner’s wishes to allow a limited number of qualified people to access the tree, and have helped many times over a period of 20 plus years to pollinate female flowers and to harvest the resulting fertile nuts.
All of the supporting KDF Team members are trained, experienced and action oriented to complete these many important tasks in quick time. They all share the desire to “Make a Difference” for our next generations * * * * * 🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳
#americanchestnut
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"America's Great Lost Tree Is Finally Returning" YouTube PBS Terra 739,332 views Sep 23, 2025
In the forests of Pennsylvania, Shane Campbell-Staton joins Sara Fern Fitzsimmons from The American Chestnut Foundation to track this tree’s strange afterlife and learn the science behind its potential revival. With the help of rare surviving trees, selective breeding, and even gene editing, scientists and volunteers are working to breed blight-resistant trees.
The chestnut’s comeback will take time. But researchers are making steady progress towards developing American chestnut trees that survive and thrive in the native range they formerly dominated.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADA6cuWy8Xg&t=3s 8 min 32 second video
The Kentucky Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation is doing its part to help the National Efforts to develop blight resistant hybrid American Chestnuts that can be replanted, and compete, in their original forests. JOIN US: 🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌞 support.tacf.org/membership Choose the Kentucky Chapter
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Successful Work Day at Kentucky Division of Forestry's Morgan County Tree Nursery October 23, 2025
Full American Chestnut Orchard, from various Kentucky sources for diversity of Kentucky DNA
Awesome Team today, thanks to the strong Partnership with Kentucky Division of Forestry with the Kentucky Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation. * * * * *
We 100% completed the trimming of briars and unwanted other species of saplings that birds and squirrels had seeded in amongst our American Chestnut sprouts/trees.
This is a very important orchard for The American Chestnut Foundation's germplasm conservation program with 39 "large" trees with 59 "seedlings" planted over the last two years. All full Americans; no hybrids in this orchard.
Thank You KY Division of Forestry. Thank you today for Charlie Saunders, Wes Brown, Allen Stewart of KDF, and Ken Darnell of KY Chapter TACF ***
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