Virginia News
Volunteer Now!
Current Opportunities to Volunteer! Working with the Public Plantings are planned for Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna on May 3 and at Mount Vernon at a date in the spring to be determined. We are looking for a few volunteers to help with (a) planting the...
Meet the Intern: Jennifer Santoro
Jennifer Santoro, a graduate student at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, is joining the Virginia Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation as an intern this summer. Based out of the Marshall office, Jennifer hopes to participate in the...
Wild Surviving Chestnut Found in Prince William Forest Park
Finding large, wild, surviving American chestnuts is always exciting, but to find a healthy one below the fall line in Virginia is both exciting and special. But there it is, right next to a trail in Prince William Forest Park. Prince William Forest Park preserves...
Video on Jennifer Santoro’s Duke University Stanback Internship
VA TACF intern Jennifer A. Santoro, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Master of Forestry & Master of Environmental Management Candidate, produced this brief video explaining her work with VA TACF and why she finds it so rewarding....
Successful Blue Ridge Heritage Planting – May 28
Blue Ridge Heritage, Inc. (BRHI), in partnership with The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) is planting native American chestnuts on the property BRHI purchased last year (in the Rocky Knob area of the Blue Ridge Parkway). These plantings are test sites, allowing...
Successful Planting April 4 at Pound, VA
Ten volunteers recruited by the Southwest Virginia Branch helped plant 625 chestnut seeds as part of the Conservation Innovation Grant progeny test at the Red Onion Mine site near Pound, Virginia. The day started dry and cool but a cold front blew in during the...
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🌰 Harvest processing at TACF’s Meadowview Research Farms is equal parts important science and hands-on fun! Staff and volunteers shuck burs and sort chestnuts with care, ensuring quality seeds for future plantings and solid data for research. It’s a lively, rewarding way to support restoration while sharing in the joy of chestnut season together. 🌳
#AmericanChestnut #MeadowviewResearchFarms #americanchestnutfoundation#ChestnutResearch #ConservationScience #harvest
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That was our job after school pick up the chestnuts, we opened them up with our feet.
This isn’t a chestnut tree, right? It’s too old and healthy to be one.
Mary Ellen McCoy
Join us on tomorrow, October 10, 2025, from 11:30AM – 1:00PM (EPT), for the next LIVE Chestnut Chat.
Our special guest, Dr. Trevor Walker, Assistant Professor of Forest Genetics and Co-Director of the Cooperative Tree Improvement Program at NC State University, will share insights from 70 years of breeding loblolly pine for disease resistance, growth, and stem form. He will also consider which practices are likely to succeed for American chestnut, which are not, and why.
Visit tacf.org/event/chestnut-chat-breeding-disease-resistance-in-loblolly-pine/ to learn more or register.
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Just saw this. How was the chat?
Do you love pulling on your work gloves and cracking open freshly fallen burs to reveal the chestnuts inside? If you do, but don’t have any of your own yet, become a member and get access to our wild-type seed sale in 2026. In just a few years, your hands could be full of spiky burs and American chestnuts of your own. support.tacf.org/membership/new-regular
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We’re proud to share this segment from the PBS show Human Footprint, featuring former TACF staff member Sara Fitzsimmons. The American chestnut sequence was selected to be adapted into a standalone YouTube video, which launched in late September and has already garnered more than half a million views. Sara’s dedication and expertise have shaped much of the progress in restoring the American chestnut. Give it a watch to learn more about this important work.
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Great presentation!
You should check this place out. www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/781685434703071/
🌰 Harvest season at TACF’s Meadowview Research Farms brings both beauty and breakthrough science. Many of the chestnut crosses we gather are generated through recurrent genomic selection—cutting-edge research driving restoration forward. Each bur holds not only the wonder of new life, but also the promise of a future where the majestic American chestnut returns to our forests. 🌳
#americanchestnut #castaneadentata #americanchestnutfoundation #ChestnutResearch #meadowviewresearchfarms
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Are there places we can purchases a Chestnut tree that is disease resistant? Thanks!