Our Work In Maine
The Problem
The loss of the American chestnut tree (Castanea dentata) is often cited as one of the worst ecological disasters in modern times. An estimated 4 billion chestnut trees, one in four trees in our eastern forests, were killed as a result of a fungus, the chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica). This fungus was native to Asia but was accidentally brought to New York in 1904. It quickly spread and within a few decades most American chestnuts lay dead on the ground. The species and communities that depended upon them for food and shelter were diminished in turn.
When the fungus girdles and kills the trunk of the tree, the root often survives and sprouts in the forest understory. The tree’s ability to root sprout is the only reason wild chestnuts persist in our forests today. The sprouts grow into trees but rarely mature to the point of flowering and producing seeds. Thus, the blight prevents the American chestnut from reproducing and evolving as a species. Without our intervention the chestnut is unlikely to reclaim its former territory and its outsized role in forest ecology and human culture.
Our Mission
The mission of The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) and its 16 chapters is to return the iconic American chestnut to its native range. In our attempts to restore this species, we are blazing a trail to guide future restoration efforts for other trees in trouble.
Our Approach
The goal of the TACF breeding program has been to move the gene for resistance, which occurs in the Chinese chestnut, into the American chestnut’s genome. This goal has been approached in two ways: a standard back-cross breeding program and genetic engineering.
Backcross Breeding
The Maine Chapter of TACF is one of many chapters engaged in a long-term back-cross breeding program with support from TACF’s staff and research farm in Meadowview, VA. Employing Maine wild chestnuts as mother trees, we aim to produce a blight resistant tree that is well adapted to Maine growing conditions.
We have long expected to see blight resistance work its way into the American Chestnut genome but this goal has remained elusive. Modern gene technology recently revealed that the combination of genes that confer resistance is more complicated and harder to pass along through standard back-cross breeding. After growing and tending hundreds of thousands of young chestnut trees over two decades, we have yet to produce a reliably blight tolerant tree that retains its distinctive American features. We have, however, learned a lot about chestnut trees!
Biotechnology
A transgenic approach to blight tolerance has been underway almost as long as the back-cross breeding program. Managed by the State University of New York at Syracuse (SUNY Syracuse) this approach recently found success in a transgenic tree called Darling 58 or D58. Professor Tom Klak, from the University of New England (UNE) in Biddeford Maine has devoted years to advancing this approach.
Working with TACF and SUNY staff, Tom has developed ways to grow Darling 58 seedlings in the greenhouse and produce transgenic pollen for future breeding with native chestnuts. One big benefit of the transgenic approach is that the American chestnut genome does not become contaminated by the many extraneous Chinese chestnut genes that come with traditional breeding.
With help from many TACF volunteers and UNE college students, Tom Klak established a transgenic chestnut orchard in Maine in 2021-22. This federally regulated research site operates under a special permit from the USDA. Regulators are in the process of reviewing the potential use of Darling 58 for chestnut forest restoration.
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National Facebook
Tennessee fans! Chestnut Shucking Party!
You've never had so much fun in your life! Please join us on Saturday for a chestnut shucking party at the Fortwood Street Greenhouse and Nursery.
Who: calling all Tennessee Chapter volunteers of The American Chestnut Foundation
What: a fun day processing this year's harvest of backcross American chestnut seeds
Where: The Fortwood Street Greenhouse and Nursery, on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, located at 833 Fortwood Street, Chattanooga, TN. 37403 (in UTC Parking Lot 37)
When: Saturday, 7 October 2023, from 10:00 AM until the fun runs out.
Why: In order to harvest seeds from our backcross hybrids we need to collect the burs the day before they open (because as soon as the burs open the nuts fall out and are eaten by deer, squirrels, wild turkeys and other neighbors).
How: To prepare the seeds for winter, we need to remove the chestnuts from their burs by hand (that's the shucking part). The chestnuts are then carefully cleaned, surface sterilized, sorted, counted, and packed into a moist medium (sphagnum) to be stratified for four months at 40 F.
Bring: A pair of puncture-proof gloves (if you have a pair), and dress for the weather.
For more information, please contact Hill Craddock: 423-290-8924 or hill-craddock@utc.edu
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And harvesting continues! This report from the TACF The Georgia Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation has a great description of the process, what happens after the nuts are picked and processed and also how we work with so many partners like Berry College who helps process the harvested nuts. Also pictured is Kathy Patrick, the volunteer of the year for the entire southern region of TACF. Thank you, Kathy, for your dedication and hard work. We will see you at the Fall Meeting! Note: some of these nuts were harvested at Anna Ruby Falls by staff Member Matt Summers!
11 CommentsComment on Facebook
Do you ship seeds
This is amazing!
Is there any way to get some seedlings
Let us hope this is exceptional news, I wish we could grow chestnuts here in Kansas zone 6.
I'd love to have an American Chestnut tree in my field.
Hope to see more saplings at Shieling State Forest soon. I walk thru every weekend.
They’re fallin in Southern Ohio!
Do you ship seeds or saplings? If so will they grow in northern Michigan
Newbee here, why does the tree bark look so narly?
I remember my college days at SFA in Nacogdoches Texas 1st year dendrology . On our lab one week we were sampling trees in a neighborhood close to campus instead out in the woods. We came up on a so called (ringer) or a tree not included in our textbook. Because I had spent a lot of time in North Carolina I recognized right off as an American chestnut and got to go home early. Now how it got there nobody knows but it’s still there torturing new dendrology students today under the watchful eye of the forestry department at SFA,
They are selling saplings at fryberg fair for $20 each.
Carolinas Chapter member Jon Taylor recently spent 10 days collecting chestnut burs from 18 wild trees spanning Alabama to Connecticut. This was his third annual chestnut harvest, and the nuts he collected will get planted in several different germplasm conservation orchards. The goal is that some of these will eventually become mother trees and receive transgenic pollen.
1st photo: An American chestnut tree on the Appalachian Trail in central Pennsylvania
2nd photo: Jon Taylor with newly discovered American chestnut tree in Connecticut
30 CommentsComment on Facebook
Thank for your efforts Jon!
Way cool!
I would love to get some blight resistant trees so I could spread the chestnut 🌰 tree love 🌳
Awesome!
Found some chestnuts while hiking in the Smokies this week.
Wonderful!
I truly hope that this effort is successful. It would be a great thing to see the chestnut become a major tree once again across the Eastern to Central US.
Good !
Nice finds! Here is the one I found on my farm. Western PA It's around 50 feet tall.
I am curious how to order seedlings? We've got acreage in Western NC mountains and we'd love to plant lots of these.
My mom has a sizable one in her yard in Brevard, NC with no signs of blight. It has seeds every year.
A question for the experts…would it be possible to grow a tree in zone 5b Chicago? Congratulations on this wonderful mission.
Such important work. ❤️❤️❤️
The tree on #1 looks more like a shagbark hickory than a chestnut. I have both growing on my property.
I really need some seedlings!!!
Looks like my chestnut tree
These are blight resistant?
I had a chestnut 🌰 tree that got to be 40 inches round and plenty of chestnuts but one year it got dark and looked like it caught the blight. It was a shock to me because my papa had planted it from a seed. I have 2 more That look like bushes. But I’m afraid they also are prone to catching the blight.
I love anyone on a mission, but I especially love THIS mission. Thank you.
Is there a report of any in Red Creek, NY?
There is a grove in Orleans, MA.
I know where some of these are in Middelsboro Kentucky where I grew up
Are these just blight survivors found out in the world? We had a chestnut tree in our yard growing up in the 90’s in Northern Virginia. So many yummy nuts from that tree. Not sure if it’s still alive. 😢
I have in my possession a rustic “chest” that my paternal grandfather made on or before the turn of the century in Clinton MD He put little wheels on it for easy mobility. Thick, roughly cut CHESTNUT. A treasure.
Will ANY live in North Dakota? Even as small trees?
It's harvest time. Recently we've been sharing a lot of posts displaying all the activities of our volunteer chapters. We hope you can see all the support and work it takes toward this mission by a small, grassroots organization. With the help of our volunteers, orchards, TACF staff and Meadowview Research Farms, we've been able to plant, distribute and harvest so much since our founding 40 years ago. Here's a brief recap:
>2 MILLION chestnuts harvested
>400,000 American chestnut trees planted
>185,000 seedlings distributed to our partners and 16 volunteer chapters in 21 states and orchards.
The work continues. We appreciate every contribution.
Give today at: www.facebook.com/donate/846539177024846/
37 CommentsComment on Facebook
Thank you for all your tireless work on this effort, it is so very appreciated. 
Donated! I was the first one! Woohoo! I love all chestnut revival - best wishes!
Very interested in planting some chestnut trees but not sure how to get seed.
How can I get a part of this? I live in Ohio and have 30 acres. I would love to plant some chestnut trees.
Can you suggest how to sprout the seeds that I’ve collected?
Harvested yesterday in NW CT for the CT chapter!
Where can you buy American chestnuts
Do you have a State Chapter in Oklahoma where I could get some seeds or young trees to re-plant?
I would love to plant some seeds or plants. In middle Tennessee
👏👏👏👏
I'm sure they can grow in northern Indiana, but I've never seen any to buy. I would love to add one in my 5 acres!
I am germinating walnuts for my property in NEW BEDFORD ma. I have plenty of room if you have and extra plants
How can we get seedlings. I always collect chestnuts
Would love to have chestnut trees once again here on our family farm of 56 acres here in MD.
Will they grow in northern New Mexico. We have cold winters and hot summers. If so I would like to get seedlings
Hello from north georgia.
Where can I get one
Will they grow in Florida
Will these survive in central Texas with the extreme heat and drought and limestone soil?
I have a chestnut tree I started 2 years ago and need to transplant it somewhere. I’m in Boston Ma any suggestions
1…will they grow in Utah? 2. If so, how do I get seeds to grow and then replant in mountains
I would be interested in a seedling
I have 5 acres in NC I want to grow some on
I would love too help!
Is there a Michigan branch? I would like to add some to our collection/nurseries.
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