Upcoming Events
Maine – About Us
The Maine chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) was established in 1999 to help restore the American chestnut tree to our corner of America here in Maine. We live at the northernmost end of its natural range where chestnuts, like Mainers, make due with less sunshine and more cold. These suboptimal conditions made for sparser populations of chestnuts (and people) than southern climes, even before the blight.
Maine is currently home to more mature, flowering wild American chestnuts than any other state. Their success is due primarily to Maine’s geographic isolation from the denser populations of chestnut trees south of us, where the fungus spreads more readily. We have the joyful job of finding Maine’s wild trees and harvesting their nuts!
By growing chestnuts from wild trees, the Maine Chapter is preserving genes that have helped the chestnut adapt to life at the cooler edge of its range. Ultimately our gene conservation and breeding efforts are intended to produce hearty, blight-resistant populations of American chestnuts that we can use for forest restoration.
The chapter’s goals are to: 1) Protect, conserve, preserve, and propagate trees from the remaining native American chestnut populations in Maine; 2) Restore the American chestnut to a place of ecological and economic importance and self-sustainability throughout their original range in Maine, and 3) Make blight-resistant American chestnuts available to the people of Maine as soon as possible.
With your help we intend to restore this iconic species to Maine’s landscape, its wildlife, and its people.
Chestnuts Across Maine
Chestnuts Across Maine (CAM) is an exciting, new initiative of the Maine chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF). Our chapter is partnering with land trusts, state parks, schools, and town squares in Maine to establish small plantings of American chestnuts on lands open to the public. During our pilot year in 2024, ME-TACF coordinated plantings with 8 organizations! Learn more about Chestnuts Across Maine.
Board of Directors
Key Contacts
Mark McCollough, Chapter President
Eva Butler, Chapter Vice President, Volunteer Coordinator (Email)
Al Faust, Treasurer
James Day, Secretary
Thomas Klak, Chair of Gene Conservation
Eric Evans, Breeding Coordinator
Ann Rea, Seed Sales
Board Members
David Allen, Portland
Peter Bohman, Monmouth
Eva Butler, St George
James Day, Portland
Eric Evans, Camden
Albert C. Faust, Winterport
Dr. Tom Klak, Saco
Mark McCollough, Hampden
Dr. Nina Pearlmutter, Kennebunkport
Andy Reed, Unity
Dr. Brian Roth, Orono
Larry Totten, West Bath
Roger Willby, Bridgeton
Maine Chapter Menu
National Facebook
Happy National Volunteer Week! 🌿
We're sending a heartfelt thank you to all the amazing volunteers who show up, dig in, and make a real difference. Your passion and dedication help us grow stronger every day—thank you for being part of the movement!
#volunteerweek #americanchestnut
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It's time for an update on the Recurrent Genomic Selection (RGS) process. Staff and volunteers, including Hannah and Christine from our Asheville office, have been diligently collecting leaf tissue samples from seedlings produced by our first RGS crosses, which were carried out in the summer of 2024. Last week, each tree was tagged for identification, ensuring accurate tracking throughout the genotyping process. The DNA from these samples will be sequenced, and the resulting data will directly inform and enhance our ongoing breeding program.
#americanchestnut #castaneadentata #americanchestnutfoundation #meadowviewresearchfarms
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Join us tomorrow, Friday, April 18, 2025, from 11:30AM – 1:00PM (EPT), for the next LIVE Chestnut Chat.
Got questions about growing chestnuts or tips to share? Join us for the Chestnut Growers Town Hall! Whether you’re a seasoned grower or just starting, this event is your chance to connect, share insights, and learn from experts. Ask your questions on topics like site selection, soil nutrition, varmint control, and more. Our expert panel will answer questions and share their top growing tips. Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of the chestnut restoration community!
Visit tacf.org/event/chestnut-chat-chestnut-growers-town-hall/ for more info and to register.
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Curious about American chestnuts? Love to hike and be outside? Want to meet other conservation enthusiasts? Come join The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) and Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC) for an educational hike at the South Yellow Mountain Preserve in Newland, NC on Friday, April 18 at 10am!
Even though American chestnuts are considered functionally extinct, we are still able to view sprouts and small trees in our Western North Carolina forests and those planted and maintained by dedicated volunteers. Join TACF’s Regional Science Coordinator to learn more about how the blight has affected American chestnuts in this area and scientific progress toward restoration efforts as we hike to see two large-scale American chestnut plantings along a trail on South Yellow Mountain.
The hike will be ~3 miles long and guided by TACF and SAHC staff. This hike is considered strenuous, with a 300+ foot elevation gain in .4 miles and requires an average level of fitness to accomplish. We expect to be wrapped up before lunch. Please use this information to determine if the hike is appropriate for you or any guests or minors you are considering bringing. If you have additional questions about the level of this activity, please do not hesitate to reach out and we will do our best to advise you.
Those who register will be sent instructions for parking location and other logistical details closer to the event date.
This event is capped at 20 participants, with a maximum of three participants per household/group to allow for greater accessibility. If you have already participated in this hike please consider others who may want to come out and experience it! Spots will go quickly, so RSVP by hitting the link below by Thursday morning, April 17
You must RSVP to participate!
Visit this link theamericanchestnutfoundation.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=90477
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Tick watch...
Tiffany Brott
The growing season is now well underway at TACF's Meadowview Research Farms! Sown in January and February of this year, thousands of young chestnut seedlings are thriving in our greenhouse, where they will remain for a few more weeks before transitioning outdoors. Starting this month and continuing through the summer, we will be sampling nearly three thousand of them at Meadowview alone, and many more across the range, for genomic evaluation and subsequent assignment to different experiments and plantings. Have you planted your chestnut seeds indoors or outdoors already this year?
#americanchestnut #castaneadentata #americanchestnutfoundation #meadowviewresearchfarms
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I have 14 acres in West Virginia that were just select cut, how can I get some to plant ?
I would love to have some to plant on my farm in KY
Latest News
Calling Volunteers to Chestnuts Across Maine
Chestnuts Across Maine (CAM) is an exciting, new initiative of the Maine chapter of TACF. Our chapter is partnering with land trusts, state parks, schools, and town squares in Maine to establish small plantings of American chestnuts on lands open to the public. This...
Chestnut Science Update
A Year of Change By Mark McCollough, Maine Chapter President “Learn to expect the unexpected.” As a wildlife biologist, I learned this tenet of ecology early in my career. Nature is full of surprises from the elegant workings of the DNA molecule to the intricate cogs...