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.
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Work Day #3 to graft wild full American Chestnut scions onto Chinese trees in TACF / EKU Regional Hybrid Chestnut Orchard:
First Day was March 3, 2026. Ken Darnell guided Dr. Austin Thomas to several "Tree Snapped" wild full Americans in various sections of Red River Gorge (with permission of Scott Ray, USFS DBNF). Collected 56 scions. Stored in moist paper towels in Austin's refrigerator until conditions were optimum to graft in TACF / EKU Orchard.
Second Day was March 20. Austin chose the best five Chinese Chestnuts at the Orchard for "Top Grafting". (Planted for Controls of the SSA Seedlings Project) He practiced techniques on a dead American Hybrid. With permission of Cassie Stark, Ken cut out the other 12 Controls Chinese Chestnuts (which will prevent cross pollination with our B3F2 Hybrids). They have completed their designed purpose.
Third Day was Friday April 10. Austin and Ken cut off the chosen five Chinese Chestnuts for top grafting, leaving minimal side branches. Austin grafted the Red River Gorge full American scions onto those five Chinese Chestnuts. Clint Patterson joined us to see the Grafting Techniques. See PHOTOS.
Austin has researched similar grafting techniques in other nut trees. His goal is 50% successful grafts with full American branches growing quickly on these "large" Chinese Chestnuts, with the added advantage that the Chinese stems will resist the blight, thus keeping a strong energy source for the grafts. We hope to see nuts developing in 3 years, via controlled pollinations with full American pollen. Those selected full American pollinations can produce seedlings with a variety of full American DNA to be added to our Partnership Germplasm Conservation Orchard of full American Chestnuts with a diversity of Kentucky DNA, in KY Div of Forestry's Morgan County Tree Nursery.
Thank you Austin for your many hours invested in this project !!!!!!
Fingers crossed * * * * * *
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Professional writer and dedicated hiker, Mark Neikirk, is writing a book on the 340 plus mile Sheltowee Trace Trail that includes a chapter on the American Chestnut in Kentucky. The Sheltowee passes through the Big South Fork NRRA in Tennessee, and the full length of the USFS Daniel Boone National Forest.
Mark's work on that Chapter is fully supported and cheered on by the Kentucky Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation.
Mark is looking for people who remember the chestnuts pre-1950 in these counties: Rowan, Jackson, Menifee, Wolfe, Powell, Lee, Pulaski, Rockcastle, or Whitley (counties through which the Sheltowee Trace Trail passes).
Any written records (family photos or letters or oral histories) would also be helpful. Reach Mark at moc.liamg@1mkrikien ....... or via Facebook Messenger. If those connections fail, email: moc.liamg@45llenradnek .... and I will connect you all.
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Any word on when this book will be available?
Amazing Achievement by Green Forests Work, Partner with many organizations, including KY Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation
Over 250,000 trees have been planted at three sites thus far in 2026, bringing Green Forests Work’s total number of trees planted to over 8 million! Green Forests Works mixes into their plantings, as many chestnut seedlings as they can acquire each year. * * * *
"GFW’s vision is to create a renewable and sustainable multi-use resource that will provide economic opportunities while enhancing the local and global environment. By converting reclaimed, non-native grasslands and shrublands into healthy, productive forestland, GFW is effectively addressing two needs of the region. Our reforestation projects provide jobs for equipment operators, nursery workers, and tree planters, and improve the environment by eradicating non-native species and restoring ecosystem services. "
There is so much more to share about Green Forests Work:
www.greenforestswork.org/
www.greenforestswork.org/_files/ugd/f07753_2f691b58747b450d82959a22c9236a48.pdf
www.facebook.com/Greenforestswork/
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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...