Harvesting trees at the Berry College Orchard in Mt. Berry, GA.
Over the last few years The American Chestnut Foundation’s (TACF) range-wide search for surviving American chestnut trees has led to the discovery of hundreds of the trees. From Maine to Alabama, state chapters continue work toward conserving 1,000 American chestnuts. We plan to plant seeds and graft-propagating wild trees in Germplasm Conservation Orchards (GCOs). Once these trees flower, we will breed them with transgenic and hybrid trees to create a locally adapted, diverse population of blight-resistant trees for restoration. Locating and conserving trees in GCOs will bring us one step closer to creating a genetically diverse population of trees for restoration. We couldn’t do it without our members and volunteers!
This year we are looking for anyone that has a confirmed American chestnut on their property or nearby that has burs and nuts. To share your harvested nuts, contact TACF’s regional science coordinator (RSC) in your area for shipping instructions. If you live outside the native range, please send your harvest to Meadowview Research Farms. (Click here for contact information.) Nuts have likely started falling now and, depending on your location, will fall until late September to early October so this is a good time to check on your trees. (Click here to access our harvest guide.)
TreeSnap App
If you know of an American chestnut on your favorite hiking trail, on your property, or elsewhere, there are a couple of ways to let TACF know. First, you can utilize the mobile application, TreeSnap (available on Apple and Android phones for free) to send photos, GPS coordinates, and tree information to TACF scientists instantly. Trees that have not been confirmed by TACF should be identified via leaf and twig sample to the RSC in your region. (Click here for instructions on how to send in a leaf and twig sample.)
If you’d like to get involved in this effort and volunteer your time towards systematically surveying areas for surviving chestnuts with your local TACF chapter, please contact your chapter representative or the RSC for your region. We are developing surveying and collection protocols for areas throughout the range that we have identified as areas of interest, so coordinating with TACF is critical as we do not want to resample areas, or go to locations where chestnut is unlikely to exist.