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.
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Eastern Kentucky University Has Won a 2024 American Chestnut Foundation Partner Award * * * *
Presented at The American Chestnut Foundation's Annual Meeting held in Cromwell, Connecticut in October 2024.
The Eastern KY University Team has been an awesome Partner over the last nine years. EKU has Partnered with KY TACF to develop a Regional Chestnut Seed Orchard on their Taylor Fork Ecological Area just south of campus. 3700 B3F2 seedlings (Averaging 94% American and 6% Chinese genes) were planted in a 2.5 acre deer fenced enclosure, to be evaluated and thinned down to the best 40 or so BEST trees that will be used for next phase of breeding for the goal of developing American Chestnut trees with enough blight resistance to be replanted in their original Forests.
The TACF / EKU Hybrid American Chestnut Orchard is "Golden" to the National and to the Kentucky efforts, not only for its production, but also as an educational area for EKU Biology students who come to the orchard to help on Volunteer Days, and get an education from KY Chapter and National TACF leaders with whom they are working side by side. Over those nine years, a huge variety of Volunteers have helped in this Orchard. AWESOME TEAMWORK.
Eastern Kentucky University, and other KY Partners and Volunteers, were nominated by Ken Darnell, KY TACF Chapter President.
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Thank you so much for your work
Woohoo!!! 🙌
A productive TEAM WORK DAY at the TACF / EKU REGIONAL HYBRID CHESTNUT SEED ORCHARD Saturday October 26, 2024
Volunteers.....lots of TEAMWORK. "Many Hands Make Light Work":
Jake Royse, Robert Griffin, Amos Stone, Jimmie Sizemore, Davida Isaacs, Aleshia Isaacs, Patti Darnell, Ken Darnell
Actions completed:
1. Patti Darnell filled up 40 one gallon milk jugs with rain water caught in rain barrels in Mt Sterling. Ken watered all seedlings, for the 8th or 9th time this year.
2. Jake Royse and Jimmie Sizemore ran their chain saws to cut out 20 more scattered dead trees, on top of the 149 dead trees cut out on October 5th's VOLUNTEER WORK DAY
3. Jake Royse ran weed eater around the seedlings planted May 1st.
4. Amos Stone, Jimmie Sizemore, Davida Isaacs, Aleshia Isaacs, added fresh ribbons to the black nylon deer fence to warn birds.
5. Robert Griffin flew his drone to take updated overhead photos of the Orchard and our surviving 349 trees out of 3,675 planted or 9.5% .
We will continue to evaluate and cut out trees until we are down to our "BEST" 1% to 2% of the trees, to use them for next breeding plans. * * * * * * *
Photos by Ken Darnell
Thank You to two of our newest KY Chapter Members and Volunteers, from Lexington, KY, Davida Isaacs and her daughter Aleshia. 🙂
Thank You to Tandy Deskins, EKU Grounds TEAM, for recently mowing the Orchard. That helps our trees, and makes for an easier work day *****
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Greatjob crew! I wish I coulda been there to help.
I belive I have two American chestnut trees on my property in Adair Co Ky.
WE ARE "GO" FOR SATURDAY MORNING OCTOBER 26TH at TACF / EKU Partnership Regional Chestnut Seed Orchard VOLUNTEER WORK DAY and Orchard Tour
The weather forecast is PERFECT * * * * * * *
See details in POST below.
Ken Darnell, KY Chapter President
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