In The News
Once in a blue moon, I like to gift an extra seedling or two to special friends or major donors when there are extra available from TACF’s Meadowview Research Farms. A long-time friend and former colleague at The Nature Conservancy, Hallie, was the recipient of such a seedling to raise the spirits of her father, Jack, who had been dealing with health issues the...
In mid-May, TACF members and volunteers worked non-stop to create New England’s first transgenic chestnut seedling orchard in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Transgenic chestnuts have an extra gene from wheat to protect them from the fungal blight that kills the American chestnut. Because the transgenic chestnuts are federally regulated, the site is governed by a USDA APHIS outplanting permit. Creating the orchard was quite an...
Visitors and staff walk through a beautiful meadow-like area of native plants on their way into the Glenn C. Price Research Laboratory at TACF's Meadowview Research Farms. The garden was established as landscaping for the new lab in 2011. These native plants are an appropriate complement for the ongoing research to restore our native American chestnut. The garden provides wildlife habitat, is an education...
Before globalization and colonialism brought the invasive chestnut blight pathogen to American soils, for thousands of years, the Cherokee made a cough syrup from the leaves of the American chestnut tree. The Cherokee also took an infusion of year old chestnut for heart trouble. Today, the knowledge of this culturally significant tree is fading for two reasons: The Indian Removal...
Have you taken a photograph of an American chestnut or American chestnut hybrid that deserves to grace the cover of Chestnut magazine? Enter it in TACF’s 2021 American Chestnut Photo Contest! Send in your best photo(s) by September 1, 2021 to enter. The winner will receive a complimentary one-year TACF membership...
An article about the significant role of the American chestnut tree in Appalachia was published in the winter 2021 issue of A.T. Journeys, magazine of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. The article details the many benefits of the tree and how its loss impacted the forest ecosystem and life that was dependent on the tree....
The pandemic has made us all re-think how we do things, and outreach for TACF is no exception. In normal times, staff and volunteers give in-person talks or participate in […]
Nestled in the mountains of Western North Carolina is the Town of Montreat. Tree Board Chair Ann Vinson began the day's ceremonial event by telling the crowd of 20 Montreat residents that a historical U.S. Forest Service site survey in 1907 showed upwards of 50% of trees in the Montreat Valley were American...
The VT/NH-TACF Chapter is aggressively seeking wild American chestnut trees that produce viable nuts for planting in Germplasm Conservation Orchards (GCO). If the transgenic chestnut is approved for distribution, these […]
On July 12, seven board members from the VT/NH Chapter participated in a Chestnut Work Day hosted by fellow board member, Doug McLane, at his property in Plymouth, NH. This […]
