About Us

The 34th Annual NY-TACF Meeting

October 4th and 5th
Syracuse, NY

Our Annual Meeting is on October 5 in Syracuse, NY. We welcome all members and prospective members to this important event. 

Meeting and hotel information can be found here:
https://www.esf.edu/chestnut/ny-tacf/index.php

You can register directly for the meeting here:
https://www.esf.edu/chestnut/ny-tacf/registration.php 

After submitting your registration, you will receive an email with the link to proceed with the payment. To reduce registration costs, ESF’s Chestnut Project chose to work with their inhouse platform from the College Foundation. This automatically includes a box to “Make this gift on behalf of an organization”. Do not click this box as this is not related to our meeting.
If you do not receive the confirmation email with payment information, you can click the following link:
https://www.esf.edu/chestnut/ny-tacf/payment.php 

The Bur Newsletter

In the latest issue of The Bur Fall 2024.

•  The October 5th Meeting to Highlight Advances, Updates, and Strategies
•  District Directors Reports, What’s Happening Around NY
• A Lawyer, an Optometrist, and an Improved Oxalic Acid Leaf Sensitivity Test that Correlates with Chestnut Blight Resilience
•  ESF research updates

Donate

Donate here to assist with the SUNY ESF Biotechnology Program. Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law. You can also donate directly on ESF’s webpage.

If you would like to donate by mail, please send your check made out to NY-TACF to:

NY-TACF C/O Treasurer Fran Nichols
302 Bateman Road
Laurens, NY 13796

Darling 58 American Chestnut Public Comment Period has Ended

Thank you to everyone who showed their support for the Darling 58 blight-tolerant American chestnut tree by submitting a comment to the USDA!

More information can be found on SUNY ESF’s American Chestnut Project.

Erik Carlson’s Interview on the Talking Biotech Podcast

Erik Carlson, an ESF graduate student, discussed the American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project on Talking Biotech Podcast. In November 2021, Erik published a paper in Molecular Plant Pathology on the new lines of transgenic American chestnuts developed with the win3.12 inducible promoter from poplar (Populus deltoides), which drives OxO expression. The oxalate oxidase gene from wheat confers elevated chestnut blight resistance in American chestnut. The podcast discusses the background of the project, where the project stands, and the regulatory environment of repatriating a forest with engineered trees.

Pollination Workshop

ESF’s American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project discussed their outcrossing plan, as well as how to pre-bag American chestnut female flowers, how they collect transgenic Darling 58 pollen, what to do when pollen is received, how to perform controlled pollinations, and how to protect nuts from animals during a virtual pollination workshop.

The workshop, beginning with a 20 minute video, can be view through TACF’s Chestnut Chat Series event listing.

The Village Chestnut Tree Podcast

All across North America and Europe, trees are under mortal threat. In The Village Chestnut Tree podcast, Emmett Hoops discusses American chestnuts and what’s being done to save them.

Latest Episode: Years End Ideas

The Chestnut Tree Video

Produced by the Templeton Foundation, one of our donors.

American Chestnut Seed Engraving

Sergey Jivetin creates elaborate engravings on the shells of seeds, including a series carved on American chestnut seeds depicting TACF’s American chestnut restoration efforts. On the first image below, the lower right-hand nut illustrates the American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project’s insertion of the Oxalate Oxidase gene into the American chestnut genome. The second image is a larger representation of that nut. To see more of Sergey Jivetin’s work, check out his website, Furrow Seed Engraving Project.