West Virginia News

Good and Bad


When posting images of chestnut, we all love great-looking seedlings or trees. They help promote the work of TACF. However, there are also pictures that depict less than ideal images. These are two images, representing the good and the bad. The picture of a dead seedling is the result of drought in northern WV during 2020. The April-planted seedling did not have a root system sufficient to withstand a week of 90+ degree heat and no rain. The second photo depicts a graft done by Dr. Paola Zaninni at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. Scionwood was collected in WV and MD this winter and Paola successfully grafted some of the scions for planting in germplasm conservation orchards. We are grateful to Paola for her grafting skills.

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Small Stem Assays involve inoculating young chestnut stems with the blight fungus and monitoring the resulting cankers, allowing researchers to assess how well different trees respond to infection.

#educational #Informative #americanchestnut #fieldwork #explore
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Last week, staff at TACF’s national office in Asheville joined Carolinas Chapter President Peggy McDonald, husband Bob, and Chapter board member Jon Taylor for a hike at Albert Mountain in Western NC to visit wild American chestnut trees in search of flowering catkins.

During their venture, the team also came across a few cool amphibians: a red-legged salamander, which only inhabits portions of the southern Appalachian Mountains, and a red-spotted newt, which is much more common, but its brilliant red is stunning!

Of course, the biggest thrill was seeing large surviving chestnut trees and, as the day wrapped up, collecting some beautiful catkins that were high in the canopy of a tree on the way down the mountain. Pollen collected from the catkins will be used in TACF’s southern region breeding program.

#hike #nature #getoutside #americanchestnut #pollination
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6 CommentsComment on Facebook

Whoa. Fascinating that some mature American Chestnuts have survived the blight. Taking pollen from these survivors is such a great idea. I didn't realize there were any survivors in NC.

Ils sont en fleur au Québec aussi, ça fait du bien de les voir grandir.

Fantastic

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Trying to figure out if you found an American chestnut or a Chinese chestnut? These identifiers should help!

#explore #forestry #education #americanchestnut #conservation
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3 CommentsComment on Facebook

I love it when the music is up front and the narration is in the background. Awesome.

BeeKeeper Mango

Every business in every city should have to plant a tree every year as part of their yearly licensing.

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Very informative!Image attachmentImage attachment+1Image attachment

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Mary Armentrout-Acord

Do you have a favorite nature quote?

#explore #americanchestnut #nature #quote #restoration
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2 CommentsComment on Facebook

“Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.” Henry David Thoreau

Im hoping to see this in my lifetime

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