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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
Read this article in Preservation Magazine to learn how a historic shelter made of American chestnut logs was moved across state lines.
Article by Alison Van Houten and image by David Huff.
Click the following link to read the article: savingplaces.org/stories/appalachian-trail-shelter-is-saved
#news #americanchestnut #historic #explorepage #Conservation
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Love seeing what the Chapters are up to!
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I have two massive chestnut trees in my backyard and I’ve tried to get someone to look at them to see what kind they are. Who can I contact?
Thank you to our long time Partner, Army Corps of Engineers, Green River Lake. * * * You all do much to educate and serve the thousands of Visitors who enjoy Green River Lake in Central Kentucky. Ken Darnell, KY TACF Chapter President
Last week, the Clemson Facilities Landscape team planted nine Allegheny chinkapin trees (Castanea pumila) at Clemson University in honor of National Arbor Day. These trees came from Chestnut Returns Farm, operated by Joe James in Seneca, South Carolina.
Joe is a longtime member of The Foundation who has worked tirelessly on Phytophthora resistance in American chestnuts and has been working with chinkapins for several years.
#chinkapin #americanchestnut #explorepage #ArborDay #Conservation
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Question: How often would you expect to find surviving American Chestnut trees in the wild?
Are the Allegheny chinkapin trees (Castanea pumila) part of a group of Chestnut Trees developed to prevent the Phytophthora disease that decimated the American Chestnut trees in America?
Interesting. I live seasonally in Seneca (up north in Pennsylvania the rest of the year). My farm in Pennsylvania had a VERY large American chestnut on it that I had to harvest when it died from the blight a few years ago. I do have a house full of furniture that was made from the lumber, which I'm very thankful for, but I'd rather have the tree back. There are still a few other living American chestnuts on the property near/around my farm, but none are as big as mine was (at least not documented, I've been told about a big one that I haven't been able to see yet). I'd like to talk to Mr. James at some point and see his operation.
Tissue sampling for recurrent genomic selection is no small task, but thanks to an incredible group of volunteers, we made it happen! Leaf samples were collected, placed in a small tube, and then a wraparound tag with a unique ID was placed on the tree; each unique ID corresponded with the tube the sample was put in. We had volunteers from the Washington County Master Gardeners, Washington County Master Naturalists, Emory and Henry University, and King University. Tissue collection is a key step towards advancing our breeding program, and we are incredibly grateful for everyone who showed up, worked hard, and supported the process. Science moves forward because of people like you! #americanchestnut #RestorationInProgress
#chestnutresearch #forestrestoration #meadowviewresearchfarms #conservationscience
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Latest News
December 2025 Newsletter Now Available
The newsletter of The American Chestnut Foundation Maine Chapter has arrived! Download it here. Inside, you'll find many stories about ME-TACF's work to restore the American chestnut: Maine Chapter plans a new seed orchard with Viles Arboretum Chestnuts at The Common...
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...