Kentucky 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...
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Successful Controlled Pollinations were completed June 16, 2026 at TACF / EKU Partnership Hybrid Orchard, using pollens from other TACF BEST trees
Resulting in 368 fertile nuts harvested from two of our genetically tested BEST trees, #722, tested to be 84.9% blight resistant and #2370, tested to be 65.9% blight resistant. * * * *
The KY Chapter also collected pollen from four other chosen BEST trees on June 16th, genetically tested to have blight resistances of 65.4%, 68.7%, 69.9% and 72.2% and overnight shipped to TACF's National Chestnut Orchard in Meadowview, VA.
September 28, 2026: We proudly handed over those 368 nuts to TACF Regional Science Coordinator Kaitlyn Harless who traveled from Charlottesville, VA, to collect fresh data on our genetically tested BEST trees. We also called on Volunteers to join us that day to conduct heavy orchard maintenance.
These results began with hybrid trees planted in 2016 and 2017. Weak trees were cut out regularly every year to get down to our "BETTER" 300 trees, out of 3,550 seedlings planted. New science of genetic testing was completed on those trees in 2025, which ID'd our BEST 1% (37 trees) of all those trees, all of which were proved to have blight resistance of 60% or better ******** (Americans are 0% resistant on that scale, Chinese are near 100% resistant)
So...............Great news for the Kentucky Chapter and for TACF national !!!!
Those pollens and nuts will now be used by national TACF to develop the "Next Generation" of hybrid Americans, utilizing Control Pollinated nuts from several TACF State Chapters. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
We are MAKING IT HAPPEN 🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳
We INVITE YOU TO JOIN US: support.tacf.org/membership Choose the Kentucky Chapter
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We Invite You to JOIN US
Membership in the Kentucky Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation:
support.tacf.org/membership
16 State Chapters are working together under the umbrella of The American Chestnut Foundation, headquartered in Asheville, NC. TACF has been working for 44 years to develop blight resistant American Chestnuts. With the latest science in Genomic Testing, the ability to measure which of our hybrid American Chestnuts (with some amount of Chinese Chestnut genes via our breeding programs) have the highest degrees of blight resistance to date, progress toward that goal is speeding up.
tacf.org/tree-breeding/ 4:34 minute video that explains "Recurrent Genomic Selection"
...and we promise that you will enjoy the "Chestnutters" who you meet along the way 😃🐸🌳🌳🌳🌳
We encourage you to SHARE this INVITATION from the Kentucky Chapter * * * * *
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The KY Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation had a successful and fun Annual Meeting with 34 Attending. Awesome Teamwork that began January 2026 to prepare for this get together of Kentucky "Chestnutters" * * * * * * *
ANNUAL KY TACF CHAPTER MEETING
WOODLANDS CONFERENCE CENTER, NATURAL BRIDGE STATE PARK
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2026
AGENDA
7:30-8:30 a.m. - Pick Up Name Tags, Social time, breakfast snacks and coffee
8:30-8:45 a.m. - KY President Ken Darnell introduces KY Board Members + silent auction items, with Charlie Saunders. Invitation to Membership KY Chapter tacf.org
8:45-9:30 a.m. - Ken Darnell will use “TreeSnap” MAPS to discuss wild American Chestnuts growing in Natural Bridge State Park and adjacent Red River Gorge
9:30-9:50 a.m. - Break, Social Time
9:50-10:50 a.m.- Jake Royse, RESTORATION TRIAL: 200 advanced hybrid seedlings were planted April 13, 2026 in the London District of Daniel Boone National Forest Four Way Partnership: National TACF, KY Chapter, USFS DBNF, KY Div of Forestry
10:50-11:00- a.m. Annual Elections: KY Board recommends James McCoy, USFS Land Between the Lakes Recreational Area to be approved as Vice President and Dr. Austin Thomas to be approved as Secretary. No new Board Member Nominations.
11:00-12:00 - noon TACF Regional Science Update will be presented by Dr. Austin Thomas, KY Chapter Board Member and contributing Scientist to national TACF
12:00-12:45- p.m. Lunch provided by the Kentucky Chapter and Social Time
12:45-1:15 – p.m. Final Silent Auction Bids. Announce Winners
1:15 p.m. - Optional Activities:
1. Social Time in Woodlands Center. We have the room until 9:00 pm. Socialize, play cards. Ask questions.
2. Individual hikes on one of the many trails in Natural Bridge State Park or adjacent Red River Gorge
3. Group Hike on nearby Whittleton Arch Trail to see some wild American Chestnuts located and “TreeSnapped” by Ken Darnell. Optional to hike the short side trail to Whittleton Arch.
4. Enjoy the adjacent Hemlock Lodge and Tavern, watching Alabama vs Kentucky football
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