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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
This is part two so if you didn't see our last post, go check it out! When blight reached the remaining American chestnuts in Wisconsin's historic stand, the Helming family faced a difficult decision.
Today, those trees live on as part of a display at the National Museum of Forest Service History, where their story will inspire future generations.
Read an exclusive excerpt from an upcoming Chestnut magazine article about the process, and become a member to read the complete story in the next issue.
Click the following link to read: tacf.org/tacf-at-national-museum-forest-history/
#americanchestnut #member #restoration #news #explore
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Thank you for doing this! We love opportunities to inspire the next generation 🌰
1 CommentComment on Facebook
Way to go Lake!
In 2020, signs of chestnut blight appeared on one of the largest known American chestnut stands in the country, leading to the difficult decision about how to preserve its legacy.
Read the story of this remarkable stand: ivtlogs.com/american-chestnut/
Then follow us for our next post, where we'll share how the remaining trees from this historic stand were harvested to become part of a display at the National Museum of Forest Service History. You'll also get a preview of an upcoming article from our award-winning Chestnut magazine that tells the rest of this bittersweet story.
#explore #news #americanchestnut #hope #newlife
58 CommentsComment on Facebook
I hate this story. First, to say the trees got a ‘new lease on life’ is a connotative misnomer and disingenuous. A new lease on life would mean that they were saved. What they really got—inevitably, I understand—is a different use in death that allowed someone to make money off their demise. That’s better than letting them rot, but it’s not a happy ending. The fact that the story is written by someone from the timber company, reflecting the point of view of a party to the situation whose motivation is monetary, just ads to the disingenuousness of this story being posted by ACF. Are you conservationists or loggers? The ‘passion for the history’ of the American chestnut time is just a contrivance to make the situation less bleak and depressing. My takeaway is that the last stand of chestnuts is gone and no replacements are arriving anytime soon. From ACF, I want content about progress in bringing chestnut trees back, not a clumsily-glossed-up summary of how someone made money on the last ones we had.
Actually… some of the American chestnut in the Forest Service Museum came from northern Indiana
I find nut bearing American chestnut trees here in the NJ Ramapo’s but when the trees reach 6to8 inches in diameter the bark peals off and the tree dies. Once it’s dead all new shoots appear at the base of the stump, the longest Ive seen nuts was 2 years in a row on a particular tree before the tree died.
Join us Friday and Saturday and enjoy speakers and events, including: social hours, Friday lunch and dinner, plus Saturday lunch! Add on a special orchard tour for just $20 more. Register now and get the early bird rate!
Can't join for the full event? Get the Half Day Pass and just come for Saturday. You still get the chance to add on a special orchard tour!
For more information visit: tacf.org/2026-american-chestnut-symposium/
#americanchestnut #event #forestry #explore #conservation
5 CommentsComment on Facebook
I may be there
November sixth and seventh……right in the rut!! 🤦♂️
Will they do well in zone 8, NE TX? Yesterday we hit a record high of 107’f and can plunge as low as -20’f. Average rainfall is 50+”/year.
When our founders and early volunteers started breeding blight-resistant American chestnuts decades ago, they knew restoration would take generations. Like the proverb says, true conservation is about planting for a future we may never see, but one that the younger generations will inherit. Today, we continue that legacy. Want to help us plant the forests of tomorrow?
Visit the following link to learn how to get involved: tacf.org/volunteer/
#explore #americanchestnut #forestrestoration #saveourforests #inspirationalquotes
15 CommentsComment on Facebook
I planted quite a few American Chestnut trees from chestnuts I got from our local chapter of the ACF headed up by Herb Darling. All but 2 of them died. Mostly from the blight, but some because I planted them in soil that wasn’t drained enough. The 2 that are still alive are on a hill next to Lake Ontario. They’re doing great- even seem to be crowding out the nearby maple trees.
A society grows even more greater when old men plant American Chestnut Trees specifically in whose shade they shall never sit.
Only a fool would sit under a Chestnut tree now until December
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...