West Virginia News
TACF’s Mid-Atlantic “Volunteer of the Year” is Robert Sypolt from WV
At TACF's annual meeting held October 17-20, 2019 at the Wyndham Hotel in Gettysburg, PA, Robert Sypolt was selected as the Mid-Atlantic region Volunteer of the Year.
Rainelle, WV United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church in Rainelle, WV (Greenbrier County) is reported to be the largest structure in the world built entirely of American chestnut lumber. The church, completed in 1914 (pre-chestnut blight), was built by workers of the Meadow River Lumber...
Chapter Science meeting
WV chapter work day at the Clements Tree Nursery in Mason County
The state tree nursery in Mason County, WV has two chestnut orchards. The older orchard was planted in the mid-1970s from nuts from large, surviving American chestnuts in the mid-Atlantic region. Nuts from the 1970's orchard were used to initiate a second orchard in...
WV chapter potting chestnuts
The group at the Meadowview farm sent about 350 beautifully packaged germinating chestnuts in mid-March. A group of a dozen volunteers from the WV chapter gathered at the Plant and Soil Sciences greenhouse on the campus of West Virginia University to pot the nuts. ...
Chestnut seedlings headed to the Boy Scout Camp at Summit Bechtel Reserve in WV
Sam Muncy, treasurer of the WV chapter, loaded up 100 chestnut seedlings from the West Virginia University greenhouse for planting at the 10,000 acre national Boy Scout Camp at the Summit Bechtel Reserve in Fayette/Raleigh Counties, WV.
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National Facebook
Inside this American chestnut box is a Dolly Parton song that no one will hear until 2046.
Dolly Parton's "Dream Box" will remain sealed until her 100th birthday. Made from American chestnut wood, it stands as a tribute to her uncle and mentor, Bill Owens.
Many know Owens as an important influence on Dolly's songwriting. Fewer know that he was also a tireless advocate for restoring the American chestnut, a tree once thought lost from eastern forests.
Inside the chestnut box is a song Dolly wrote to be released as her last: "My Place in History."
There is something fitting about that. A song about the place we leave behind, preserved in a box made from a tree once thought lost that generations of people have worked to bring back.
Like so much in conservation, Bill Owens' legacy is not only what he accomplished himself, but what he passed on: knowledge, passion, and a connection to those who came after him.
Forests endure because people choose to carry them forward. So do legacies.
When that box is finally opened in 2046, I hope to be listening to "My Place in History" beneath the shade of an American chestnut; one that Bill Owens helped bring back.
#AmericanChestnut #ForestRestoration #DollyParton #Conservation #Legacy
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Wormy Chestnut
I hope people are calling/writing congresspeople about USDA’s shutting down Beltsville, MD facility, and its impact on the baby chestnuts being cultivated there! tacf.org/md-news/
"Dolly's music is rooted in the Appalachians," her uncle Bill Owens once said. "The American chestnut was once the most important tree in these mountains, feeding wildlife and people alike."
The comparison feels especially meaningful today. Both Dolly Parton and the American chestnut grew from Appalachian roots to become enduring icons. Both nourished generations, one with food and shelter, the other with music, compassion, and hope. Both became symbols of resilience, generosity, and the richness of mountain culture.
The American chestnut's story lives on in the forests it shaped. Dolly's story lives on in the millions of lives she touched.
Appalachia gave the world both. And the world is better because it did.
Read our article "Dolly Parton: A Life Rooted In Giving" about Dolly's work with the Foundation and see how far her generosity reached: tacf.org/dolly-parton-a-life-rooted-in-giving/
#dollyparton #news #explore #tribute #country
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As we mourn the loss of Dolly we should all take a moment in honor of the greatest person ever from East Tennessee in my lifetime. Her never-ending kindness, generosity, creativity, ambition, drive and raw talent will never be forgotten and should be an inspiration to us all.
I love this story!
She was a larger-than-life mountain nymph <3
This is part two so if you didn't see our last post, go check it out! When blight reached the remaining American chestnuts in Wisconsin's historic stand, the Helming family faced a difficult decision.
Today, those trees live on as part of a display at the National Museum of Forest Service History, where their story will inspire future generations.
Read an exclusive excerpt from an upcoming Chestnut magazine article about the process, and become a member to read the complete story in the next issue.
Click the following link to read: tacf.org/tacf-at-national-museum-forest-history/
#americanchestnut #member #restoration #news #explore
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Thank you for doing this! We love opportunities to inspire the next generation 🌰
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Way to go Lake!
In 2020, signs of chestnut blight appeared on one of the largest known American chestnut stands in the country, leading to the difficult decision about how to preserve its legacy.
Read the story of this remarkable stand: ivtlogs.com/american-chestnut/
Then follow us for our next post, where we'll share how the remaining trees from this historic stand were harvested to become part of a display at the National Museum of Forest Service History. You'll also get a preview of an upcoming article from our award-winning Chestnut magazine that tells the rest of this bittersweet story.
#explore #news #americanchestnut #hope #newlife
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I took over property that has been in my family 200 years. I'm the first to farm it in 100 years. I found two in the back of the property in the holler.
i have a 7/8 american: 1/8 chinese chestnut tree doing very well and has begun to produce chestnuts.
I hate this story. First, to say the trees got a ‘new lease on life’ is a connotative misnomer and disingenuous. A new lease on life would mean that they were saved. What they really got—inevitably, I understand—is a different use in death that allowed someone to make money off their demise. That’s better than letting them rot, but it’s not a happy ending. The fact that the story is written by someone from the timber company, reflecting the point of view of a party to the situation whose motivation is monetary, just ads to the disingenuousness of this story being posted by ACF. Are you conservationists or loggers? The ‘passion for the history’ of the American chestnut time is just a contrivance to make the situation less bleak and depressing. My takeaway is that the last stand of chestnuts is gone and no replacements are arriving anytime soon. From ACF, I want content about progress in bringing chestnut trees back, not a clumsily-glossed-up summary of how someone made money on the last ones we had.