Contact us at gro.fcat@retpahCYK
About Us
Hello from the Kentucky Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation!
We are an active group of Volunteers who work together to help the national effort to restore the American Chestnut back into its native forests. With our Partners, we manage several orchards of hybrid American Chestnuts and full American Chestnuts that facilitate breeding options.
Wild American Chestnuts are still found across Kentucky in their native range forests. While an extremely small number of wild American Chestnut trees survive the blight to grow large enough to produce flowers and burrs, there are many sprouts that grow from the roots of the original trees. Take a look at the original American Chestnut Range Map. American chestnuts like well-drained, acidic sandstone soils. They do not like low acidic clay soils or soils and low areas that hold water.
We invite you to help search for wild Americans and to record them on the free ‘TreeSnap’ app. Or you can contact us via our Kentucky Chapter Facebook Page to let us know their location and if you need help to ID that your trees are full American or a Chinese or Japanese Chestnut, or a hybrid with mixed parentage. You can see general locations of wild American Chestnuts found and mapped to date on the TreeSnap website: https://treesnap.org/ Choose “MAP” from the menu to see general tree locations, with the knowledge that the app moves the exact tree locations by about five miles each to protect the individual trees and the landowners. With the “OBSERVATION CATEGORY” filter box, select “American Chestnut” to remove the visual clutter of other species that are also entered into TreeSnap.
JOIN US. Become a Member. Become a Volunteer. Click on the BECOME A MEMBER button to the right to simultaneously join the national TACF organization, plus the Kentucky Chapter. You will enjoy working beside and developing friendships with many other conservation minded people who are taking a variety of actions to do our part, along with our sister Appalachian state chestnut chapters, to restore this iconic American tree.
Kentucky Chapter Menu
Kentucky Facebook
Join us for KY-TACF's 2025 Chapter Meeting in Artemus, KY (Outside of Barbourville, KY)
Date: Saturday September 6th 2025
Time: 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. EST
Location: KY National Guard Training Room, 537 TVA Road, Artemus, KY 40903
(3rd building on the left, cream colored metal building)
Hotel "Quality Inn" available in nearby Barboursville, KY
The Kentucky Chapter is excited to host our annual meeting at the Kentucky National Guard Training Center! This meeting includes opportunities to hear from TACF staff, KY Board Members, and researchers about all things American Chestnut including the latest and greatest in Chestnut Science.
You can also explore nearby Pine Mountain State Resort Park.
Come see chestnut breeding in action in our KY National Guard Orchard! All are Welcome / KY Members and Non Members * * * * * *
We invite you to bring a "Plus One" ..... or even a "Plus Two" 🙂
TO RSVP: Email KY Chapter President Ken Darnell: moc.rennurdaor@llenradkd
No Entrance Fee **** Lunch provided by KY Chapter **** We will hold a silent auction of donated items and will host a Cash $$$$$ 50/50 Raffle to defer costs 🙂
Schedule of events:
8:00-8:30AM - Social time, snacks and coffee
8:30-8:45AM - KY President Ken Darnell introduces attendees + silent auction items
8:45-9:30AM - KY Board Member and Meeting Host, Lt. Col. Dave Jackson (ret.) provides an overview of the KY National Guard Harold Disney Base and his work as KY N.G. Environmental Coordinator (We will discuss details of the TACF / KY N.G. hybrid orchard during the tour)
9:30-9:50 - Break, social time
9:50-10:50 - TACF Regional Science Coordinator Cassie Stark presents science update + Q&A
10:50-11:30 - KY Board Member Lynn Garrison presents about American chestnuts on Pine Mountain
11:30-12:00 - Annual board/officer elections
12:00-12:45 - Lunch (provided by Patti Darnell) and social time
12:45-2:00 - Hybrid Chestnut Orchard Tour lead by Dave Jackson and Cassie Stark, including an overview of orchard history, recent actions by KY-TACF, and next steps (orchard is within sight of the meeting room)
Kentucky Division of Forestry Hannah Leeper
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Join us for KY-TACF's 2025 Chapter Meeting in Artemus, KY (Outside of Barbourville, KY)
Date: Saturday September 6th 2025
Time: 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. EST
Location: KY National Guard Training Room, 537 TVA Road, Artemus, KY 40903
(3rd building on the left, cream colored metal building)
The Kentucky Chapter is excited to host our next annual meeting at the Kentucky National Guard Training Center! This meeting includes opportunities to hear from TACF staff, KY Board Members, and researchers about all things American Chestnut including the latest and greatest in Chestnut Science.
You can also explore nearby Pine Mountain State Resort Park.
Come see chestnut breeding in action! All are Welcome / KY Members and Non Members * * * * * *
We invite you to bring a "Plus One" ..... 🙂
TO RSVP: Email KY Chapter President Ken Darnell: moc.rennurdaor@llenradkd
No Entrance Fee **** Lunch provided by KY Chapter ****
We will hold Silent Auction to help defer costs 🙂
Schedule of events:
8:00-8:30AM - Social time, snacks and coffee
8:30-8:45AM - KY President Ken Darnell introduces attendees + silent auction items
8:45-9:30AM - KY Board Member and Meeting Host, Lt. Col. Dave Jackson (ret.) provides an overview of the KY National Guard Harold Disney Base and his work as KY N.G. Environmental Coordinator (We will discuss details of the TACF / KY N.G. hybrid orchard during the tour)
9:30-9:50 - Break, social time
9:50-10:50 - TACF Regional Science Coordinator Cassie Stark presents science update + Q&A
10:50-11:30 - KY Board Member Lynn Garrison presents about American chestnuts on Pine Mountain
11:30-12:00 - Annual board/officer elections
12:00-12:45 - Lunch (provided by Patti Darnell) and social time
12:45-2:00 - Hybrid Chestnut Orchard Tour lead by Dave Jackson and Cassie Stark, including an overview of orchard history, recent actions by KY-TACF, and next steps (orchard is within sight of the meeting room)
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Partnership Action by Kentucky Division of Forestry at KDF Morgan County Tree Nursery
Ongoing care of the 43 full American seedlings, of various parentages, planted May 2, 2024 and a few replacement plantings completed April 29, 2025. Thank you KY Division of Forestry * * * * *
Top photo shows Charlie Saunders who has many years of service with KDF, and has been an active Board Member of the KY Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation for the last five years. Charlie is side dressing the seedlings with slow release DAP ( Diammonium Phosphate) 18-46-0 fertilizer which works well for KDF's thousands of tree seedlings that they plant in their main tree seedling orchard each Spring for sale to Kentucky customers in the Fall. KDF also waters these seedlings when rain does not provide enough natural watering.
The bottom two photos show KDF partners coordinating with KY Chapter President Ken Darnell, May 2, 2024, to plant 43 seedlings to enlarge the older full American Chestnut Orchard that is maintained and utilized in Partnership with the KY TACF Chapter.
This full American Chestnut Orchard preserves DNA from a variety of sources across Eastern Kentucky, to be utilized in future breeding, as our TACF Scientists guide us. * * * * * * *
Kentucky Division of Forestry
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Latest News
Using Pollen from Land Between The Lakes
WE’RE SO HAPPY …….. RETURNED TO STEVE HARTMAN FULL AMERICAN ORCHARD, SCOTTSVILLE, KY near Tennessee Border to apply pollen from three LBL wild Americans, harvested, processed and stored last June by Lee Grace, UK Forestry Technician, from trees previously TreeSnapped...
KY TACF Partnership with USFS Daniel Boone National Forest
Thank you Scott Ray for inviting us to attend DBNF Annual Meeting held at Berea College Dr. Ellen Crocker, Scott Ray, and Ken Darnell, KY TACF Board Members, conducted a presentation on TreeSnap and the State University of New York's "Darling 58" transgenic American...
Many Miles Completed in Search for wild, full American Chestnuts Across Kentucky
Our Kentucky Volunteers have driven and hiked many miles across the state searching wild full American Chestnuts and “Snapped” them into our data base using the free TreeSnap app. We estimate that we have observed close to 4,000 wild Americans, “Snapping” 1,543...