About Us
Hello from the Kentucky Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation!
We are an active group of Volunteers who work together to help the national effort to restore the American Chestnut back into its native forests. With our Partners, we manage several orchards of hybrid American Chestnuts and full American Chestnuts that facilitate breeding options.
Wild American Chestnuts are still found across Kentucky in their native range forests. While an extremely small number of wild American Chestnut trees survive the blight to grow large enough to produce flowers and burrs, there are many sprouts that grow from the roots of the original trees. Take a look at the original American Chestnut Range Map. American chestnuts like well drained, acidic sandstone soils. They do not like low acidic clay soils or soils and low areas that hold water.
We invite you to help search for wild Americans and to record them on the free ‘TreeSnap’ app. Or you can contact us via our Kentucky Chapter Facebook link to let us know their location and if you need help to ID that your trees are full American or a Chinese or Japanese Chestnut, or a hybrid with mixed parentage. You can see general locations of wild American Chestnuts found and mapped to date on the TreeSnap website: https://treesnap.org/ Choose “MAP” from the menu to see general tree locations, with the knowledge that the app moves the exact tree locations by about five miles each to protect the individual trees and the landowners. With the “OBSERVATION CATEGORY” filter box, select “American Chestnut” to remove the visual clutter of other species that are also entered into TreeSnap.
JOIN US. Become a Member. Become a Volunteer. Click on the BECOME A MEMBER button to the right to simultaneously join the national TACF organization, plus the Kentucky Chapter. You will enjoy working beside and developing friendships with many other conservation minded people who are taking a variety of actions to do our part, along with our sister Appalachian state chestnut chapters, to restore this iconic American tree.
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Lots of Catkins in the full American Chestnut Orchard in the Kentucky Department of Forestry Morgan County Tree Nursery near West Liberty, KY
We checked their status today, June 5, 2023, and found that the make catkins are green and tight. No female flowers yet showing.
We will return in a few days to again search for female flowers that we will cover with paper pollination bags to prevent random cross pollination from adjacent full Americans. Then in the third week of June, when the catkins and flowers are fully ripe, we will "Control Pollinate" with chosen pollen, and rebag, with the nuts then to be harvested mid October.
Thank you Kentucky Department of Forestry for the strong Partnership with the KY Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation. * * * * * *
KY TACF Partnership with USFS Daniel Boone National Forest May 17, 2023
Thank you Scott Ray for inviting us to attend DBNF Annual Meeting held at Berea College * * * *
Dr. Ellen Crocker, Scott Ray, and Ken Darnell, KY TACF Board Members conducted a presentation on TreeSnap and the State University of New York's "Darling 58" transgenic American Chestnut to 120 plus leaders of the Daniel Boone National Forest.
treesnap.org/
We also presented Hybrid American Chestnut Seedlings to Scott Ray, DBNF Supervisor and Brad Turberville, Deputy DBNF Supervisor for an educational planting on "The Boone".
www.fs.usda.gov/dbnf
Productive Volunteer Work Day at Wilkins Hybrid Chestnut Orchard, Shelbyville, planted in 2008. A few trees have survived and may be usable in our next steps of tree development.
A+ Teamwork by Anne Bobigian, Jim Salmon, Pat Marlowe, Ken Darnell, and current owner Lester Buckley. We cut out a large, healthy Chinese Chestnut that has served its purpose as a "Control". Jim Salmon brought his 15 HP DR Brush Mower to clear high weeds and grass.
Just one of many KY action steps planned in 2023 to contribute to the National Team's actions to develop blight resistant American Chestnut trees.
Great job team!!!
Latest News
KY TACF Partnership with USFS Daniel Boone National Forest
Dr. Ellen Crocker, Scott Ray, and Ken Darnell, KY TACF Board Members, conducted a presentation on TreeSnap and the State University of New York's "Darling 58" transgenic American Chestnut to 120 plus leaders of the Daniel Boone National Forest. We asked for...
Many Miles Completed in Search for wild, full American Chestnuts Across Kentucky
Our Kentucky Volunteers have driven and hiked many miles across the state searching wild full American Chestnuts and “Snapped” them into our data base using the free TreeSnap app. We estimate that we have observed close to 4,000 wild Americans, “Snapping” 1,543...
The Faith of Planting Chestnuts and Chinquapins
Looking at the bare rock mine surface from a reclamation research project in Eastern Kentucky, most of us would have little faith that much would grow on such a soiless surface. However in 2007, Michael French was a big part of a U of KY Research Team, who planted...