Contact us at gro.fcat@retpahCVW
About Us
The West Virginia Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation (WV-TACF) was established in 2009, the last of TACF’s 16 state chapters to be incorporated. Hybrid chestnut trees have been planted at 68 sites in 26 WV counties. We have initiated germplasm conservation orchards (pure American chestnut plantings) at seven sites in the state. Chapter members help support the mission of the national organization by planting hybrid chestnuts, conducting education, research, and outreach.
If you would like to participate in this group please join us. We include people from all areas that have an interest in restoring this magnificent tree to our forests. When you join The American Chestnut Foundation, a portion of your dues will be shared with the WV-TACF Chapter.
To learn more about who we are and what we do, read our monthly newsletter!
2025 West Virginia Grant Program
We invite members of the West Virginia chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation and other interested parties to apply for grants up to a maximum of $2,000 to support education, outreach and scholarly activities related to American chestnut in the State of West Virginia. Grants are available to assist individuals with active restoration projects in the State, outreach activities, as well as with their scholarly activities. For more information please download the application form. Submissions are due January 31, 2025.
American Chestnut: The Once and Future Tree
Click play below or watch on YouTube.
In the spring of 2023, a group of film students from the George A. Romero Filmmaking Program traveled throughout West Virginia and Maryland to record oral histories from a group of individuals with a passion for the American Chestnut, in an effort to preserve pieces of the tree’s past, present and future.
Chestnut Identification
Distinguishing American from Chinese and European Chestnut
Sometimes, individuals who come across a tall chestnut tree in a forest setting, assume it must be an American chestnut. This is not always the case. In forest settings, Chinese chestnut, like its American cousin, also can grown straight and tall. Leaf shape, leaf hairs and twig color are good characteristics to distinguish American from Chinese chestnut. American chestnut leaves are generally long and slender with a “V” at the leaf base. Chinese chestnuts have a wider leaf and they are often shiny. Chinese chestnut leaves have a “U” shape at the leaf base. Most striking are the hairs on the under-surface of Chinese chestnut leaves. American chestnut leaves have no hairs. Chinese twigs, generally brown in color, also have hairs. American twigs, generally exhibit a reddish color, and like the leaves, the twigs have no hairs. Buds are another characteristic–American buds are pointed compared to rounded Chinese buds.
In some areas of the eastern U.S., European chestnut trees can be found. In comparison, European twigs are much stouter than either American or Chinese chestnut. Buds on a European are often large and green in early spring, turning darker by mid-summer. Buds are green in the spring, turning dark in summer.
Click here for more chestnut leaf and tree identification information.
WV Chapter Board of Directors
President
Mark Double, Morgantown
Vice President
Jerry Legg, Elkview
Secretary
Jeff Kochenderfer, Petersburg
Treasurer
Sam Muncy, Philippi
Board Members
Dr. Lewis Cook, Fayetteville
Linda Coyle, Keyser
Dr. Joe Golden, Beckley
Jimmy Jenkins, Flatwoods
Carla Kesling, Bridgeport
Dr. Don Kines, Davis
Dr. Brian Perkins, Elkins
Charles Sypolt, Glenville
Dr. Melissa Thomas-Van Gundy, Elkins
West Virginia Chapter Menu
National Facebook
Have a great photo of an American chestnut tree, bloom, bur, leaf, restoration planting, volunteer event, or wildlife interaction? We'd love to see it! (Photo pictured taken by 2025 2rd place winner Eric Sizemore)
First Place receives:
- Their photo featured on the cover of a future issue of Chestnut magazine
- A one-year TACF Seed Level Membership (a $300 value!)
- TACF merchandise
Second and Third Place winners will receive:
- TACF swag
- Recognition alongside the first-place winner in the 2027 Spring/Summer issue of Chestnut.
Submit your entries by December 31, 2026.
Visit the following link for more information and complete submission details: tacf.org/2026-photo-contest/
#AmericanChestnut #PhotoContest #TACF #ChestnutMagazine #ConservationPhotography #ForestRestoration #NaturePhotography
1 CommentComment on Facebook
Josh Roudebush win it all bro I might know a few big boys for the shot
A bee enjoying a well deserved break after the chestnut pollination period. The tree it rests on is a hybrid castanea pumila x alabamensis (dwarf chestnut x Alabama chinquapin).
1 CommentComment on Facebook
Voles got my chestnut, planted spring 2025
August Events! Double check with your states Chapter about events in your area.
Visit the following link for more information on the events: tacf.org/events/category/tacf/
#americanchestnut #Connecticut #NorthCarolina #SouthCarolina #getinvolved
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
In a recent article for The Conversation, Dr. Steve Strauss discusses how advances in genomics and biotechnology are creating new opportunities to support chestnut restoration.
We're pleased to see perspectives from a longtime TACF collaborator. Steve served on our Science Advisory Review Committee in 2018 and currently has a pending proposal with TACF to improve genetic transformation methods for chestnut.
Give the article a read and let us know what part of chestnut restoration you're most excited about: theconversation.com/new-genetic-approaches-raise-hopes-for-restoring-the-american-chestnut-to-its...
30 CommentsComment on Facebook
Somewhere, waiting discovery deep inside the remote part of a forest towers a thriving blight resistant nut filled American Chestnut (surrounded by dead ones just so we know it was exposed and surviving). We can hope. Taking inspiration from the Dogwood saga.
Professors at S.U.N.Y E.S.F put a wheat gene in to Chestnuts years ago and have growing them
I thought the blight only killed the tree above the ground and not the root system that's why the chestnut resprouts and grows until it gets a scar on it and the blight kills the sprouted tree back down to the ground leaving more viable root system to sprout again in the future.
Unlike most forest trees that rely mostly on wind, American chestnuts recruit insects too.
#americanchestnut #environmentaleducation #pollinator #nativetrees #dronefootage
1 CommentComment on Facebook
Okay, who was in our Monocacy Orchard. MDTACF.
Latest News
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Germination Time
Members of the West Virginia chapter gather in mid-March to pot chestnuts. In readiness for potting, the bags of nuts that were stratified over the winter in a refrigerator were checked in mid-February to see how many had radicals. In the photo, there is a wide...
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