The American Chestnut Foundation

The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) is a nonprofit American organization dedicated to breeding a blight-resistant American chestnut (Castanea dentata) tree and the reintroduction of this tree to the forests of the Eastern United States.

The mission of The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) is to restore the American chestnut tree to the forests of Eastern North America by breeding genetically diverse blight-resistant trees, evaluating various approaches to the management of chestnut pests and pathogens, and reintroducing the trees into the forest in an ecologically acceptable manner. The American chestnut tree once comprised a quarter of the eastern hardwood forest from Maine to Georgia and west to the Ohio River Valley, providing a valuable economic resource in both timber and nuts, as well as an abundant food source for wildlife. An accidentally imported Asiatic chestnut blight decimated approximately four billion trees, with devastating results to Appalachian communities and economies.

TACF’s work is accomplished by the combination of a small professional staff and a large group of volunteers associated with sixteen state chapters from Maine to Georgia/Alabama and west to the Ohio River Valley. Chapters leverage TACF’s efforts by organizing volunteers to identify surviving American chestnuts, pollinate these survivors with pollen from TACF's Meadowview Research Farms station in Virginia, and establish and maintain local breeding nurseries. These nurseries expect to eventually produce blight-resistant trees adapted to local conditions throughout the original range. The requirements for both genetic diversity and regional adaptability were the key factors in the establishment of the state chapter breeding programs manned by volunteers. A strength of TACF has been its ability to develop effective partnerships with other organizations leading to the advancement of the science relative to developing a blight-resistant tree. TACF has many cooperators involved in chestnut study and restoration, among them university partnerships, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and the US Forest Service

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