West Virginia Chapter

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

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It's time to get growing this week at Meadowview Research Farms! Alongside seeds harvested from Meadowview Research Farms, we’re also planting seeds sourced from partner pollination programs across the American chestnut range. The seeds have been stratified in coolers since being harvested last fall. The process of stratification in coolers mimic natural conditions of moisture and cool temperatures to prepare them for germination. Each seed is carefully placed into its designated pot based on its experiment, covered, and watered in—officially beginning the germination process! Come back and check out the progress soon!

#propagation #seeds #recurrentgenomicselection #americanchestnut #castaneadentata #americanchestnutfoundation #ChestnutResearch #prepping #smallstemassay #meadowviewresearchfarms
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For all you chestnut nerds out there, here's a great read!

From the abstract: Over a century after two introduced pathogens decimated American chestnut populations, breeding programs continue to incorporate resistance from Chinese chestnut to recover self-sustaining populations. Due to complex genetics of chestnut blight resistance, it is challenging to obtain trees with sufficient resistance and competitive growth. We developed high quality reference genomes for Chinese and American chestnut and leveraged large disease phenotype and genotype datasets to develop accurate genomic selection.

View the full abstract and download a PDF of the study here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.30.635736v1.article-info
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For all you chestnut nerds out there, heres a great read! From the abstract: Over a century after two introduced pathogens decimated American chestnut populations, breeding programs continue to incorporate resistance from Chinese chestnut to recover self-sustaining populations. Due to complex genetics of chestnut blight resistance, it is challenging to obtain trees with sufficient resistance and competitive growth. We developed high quality reference genomes for Chinese and American chestnut and leveraged large disease phenotype and genotype datasets to develop accurate genomic selection. View the full abstract and download a PDF of the study here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.30.635736v1.article-info

3 CommentsComment on Facebook

I hope there is a real breakthrough in my lifetime

Is there any ai programs that you can feed the dna of each tree and ai will tell you which crosses will do best to increase resistance on each cross ?

Is it true that the American Truffle mycelium help the trees fend off blight?

Over the past few days, the Meadowview Research Farms team has been hard at work preparing pots to sow seeds for this year's experiments! These seeds play a vital role in Recurrent Genomic Selection, Small Stem Assays, and other trials. With a greenhouse capacity of over 5,000 trees, we’re ready for another year of innovative research. The pot-filling process begins with adding fertilizer to the growing media and filling each pot to the top, ensuring they are ready for sowing. Once all the pots are filled, the tagging process begins. Each pot receives a label indicating its tree ID, genotype, and corresponding experiment. The tagging process is critical as it helps differentiate each pot's journey and helps maintain organization in the greenhouse. Stay tuned for the next post on sowing!

#americanchestnut #castaneadentata #americanchestnutfoundation #ChestnutResearch #prepping #smallstemassay
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Join Lauren as she demonstrates the process of the Generational Passthrough experiment. It starts with the initial inoculation and placement of cryphonectria plugs into young seedlings. She then observes the cankers' development over a two-week period. Next, Lauren extracts the cryphonectria from these cankers, trims and sections the stem into agar for culture and subculture, repeating these steps across ten generations. Finally, she examines the initial and final cultures, where the genome sequence provides crucial insights into the changes of the cryphonectria. Lauren's analysis aims to detect any genotype alterations in the chestnut trees and observe potential evolution in the cryphonectria.

Come back and check out our next post on “Follow the Roots”!

#americanchestnut #castaneadentata #americanchestnutfoundation #ChestnutResearch #ConservationScience #dayinthelife
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Join Lauren as she demonstrates the process of the Generational Passthrough experiment. It starts with the initial inoculation and placement of cryphonectria plugs into young seedlings. She then observes the cankers development over a two-week period. Next, Lauren extracts the cryphonectria from these cankers, trims and sections the stem into agar for culture and subculture, repeating these steps across ten generations. Finally, she examines the initial and final cultures, where the genome sequence provides crucial insights into the changes of the cryphonectria. Laurens analysis aims to detect any genotype alterations in the chestnut trees and observe potential evolution in the cryphonectria.Come back and check out our next post on “Follow the Roots”!#americanchestnut #castaneadentata #americanchestnutfoundation #ChestnutResearch #ConservationScience #dayinthelifeImage attachment

At Meadowview Research Farms the chestnut orchards go dormant in the winter, but any seedlings that haven't been planted are allowed to go dormant as well! Potted seedlings are "overwintered" to protect their roots from freezing, ensuring they survive to the next growing season. Trees in the field are insulated from the frigid temperatures by the thermal mass of the soil surrounding their roots, but seedlings do not have the same protection being in small pots. MRF places trees closely together inside of thick vinyl tents to protect potted seedling roots from the low temperatures outside and adds heaters for particularly cold weather. Seedlings for certain research projects also remain dormant indoors in garages that are kept at 40 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the winter. The temperatures have remained consistently low for the past few weeks, but the seedlings are happily waiting out the winter for the next growing season to arrive.

#americanchestnut #castaneadentata #americanchestnutfoundation #ChestnutResearch
... See MoreSee Less

At Meadowview Research Farms the chestnut orchards go dormant in the winter, but any seedlings that havent been planted are allowed to go dormant as well! Potted seedlings are overwintered to protect their roots from freezing, ensuring they survive to the next growing season. Trees in the field are insulated from the frigid temperatures by the thermal mass of the soil surrounding their roots, but seedlings do not have the same protection being in small pots. MRF places trees closely together inside of thick vinyl tents to protect potted seedling roots from the low temperatures outside and adds heaters for particularly cold weather. Seedlings for certain research projects also remain dormant indoors in garages that are kept at 40 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the winter. The temperatures have remained consistently low for the past few weeks, but the seedlings are happily waiting out the winter for the next growing season to arrive.  #americanchestnut #castaneadentata #americanchestnutfoundation #ChestnutResearch

3 CommentsComment on Facebook

Fascinating info!

I messaged the Carolinas chapters. The last activity was Dec 2023 though . I’d like to plant some chestnut trees around my property but can’t afford the 300 dollar fee/ donation. Could I just get a few ?

I like to say that they've gone to winter quarters.

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