A demonstration site, spearheaded by WV-TACF member, Dr. Lewis Cook, was located at Oak Hill High School beside the Vocational Technical Center. That site had been a previous chestnut planting that had not done well due to wet and shallow soil conditions. The Board of Education allowed for a wider site development to move the plantings to a better area of that property. Twenty-eight chestnut seedlings were planted there, some with the help of the school’s forestry class. The intent of this site is to plant a variety of native West Virginia trees that include other species besides chestnut so the students can observe and compare how they grow in the same environment. This will, hopefully, provide an educational opportunity for the students and the public. The non-chestnut trees will be planted as they become available. The chestnuts were planted in early November. Pictured above is Dr. Lewis Cook (left) and the Oak Hill High School students and advisor.
Oak Hill High School Planting
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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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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
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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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.
Do you have a favorite nature quote?
#explore #americanchestnut #nature #quote #restoration
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“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