Connecticut Chapter, The American Chestnut Foundation

Plant Science Day at CAES

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:22:00 -0700

Always a great day at the CT Agricultural Experiment Station Lockwood Farm, the CAES Plant Science Day is Wednesday August 4th from 10 am to 4pm.

There are ninety field plots to review, technical demonstrations, insect identificationn, barn displays, and more. There are several exciting lectures scheduled to begin at 10:15 am including lectures by Kirby C. Stafford III entitled Be Our Guest: The History of Plant Science Day, also by Dr. Sandra L. Anagnostakis on Chestnut Blight: A Trip Through Time .. and then also Dr. Jeffrey S. Ward with Our Dynamic Connecticut Forest: 80 Years of Observation. The official CAES Flyer can be downloaded from here with a full description of activities and directions on getting to Lockwood Farm. Hope to see you there!

TACF Regional Science Coordinator - Mid-Atlantic Regional

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:13:00 -0700

American Chestnut Foundation seeks Mid-Atlantic Regional Science Coordinator

The American Chestnut Foundation is seeking a Regional Science Coordinator, which supports the science-related activities of TACF chapters in MD, VA, and WV and cooperates and participates with the other regional science coordinators and with the chief scientist of TACF. The coordinator supports and advises on chapter breeding programs following accepted breeding-program protocol, including such activities as pollinating, seed collecting, harvesting, storing seeds, selecting planting sites, planning plantings, distributing seeds, directing the planting and maintenance of chestnut trees, inoculating and selecting trees, and record keeping. [More]

Long Term Planning for the Connecticut Chapter, The American Chestnut Foundation

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:02:00 -0700

The CT Chapter, as part of The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF), has made great strides in the effort to restore the American chestnut tree to its former range. As part of the back-cross breeding program, we have planted thousands of tree in dozens of plantings in our breeding orchards across the state. Within the next year or two, we will begin testing the BC3F1 trees for resistance to the chestnut blight. Nuts from resistant trees will be be planted in seed orchards, and nuts from the most blight resistant of trees grown from those nuts will then be used for more extensive restoration efforts. However, the planning documents that guide our current work are reaching the end of their scope. TACF is currently preparing an overall American Chestnut Restoration Plan. This will provide high level context and direction for the next several years. In addition to this, the CT Chapter needs to develop a long term plan, with more specific recommendations based on our local conditions, needs, and resources. At its last meeting, the CT Chapter Board of Directors authorized the creation of a working group to gather relevant background material, draft a Long Term Plan for the chapter, and based on input from interested parties, present the plan at the next Board meeting. Please read the full article for more information, if you are interested in participating or contributing to this effort. [More]

TACF New England Chapters Held Regional Meeting

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:45:00 -0700

On Saturday, March 20, 2010, the New England Chapters of The American Chestnut Foundation^® (TACF^®) met for a Regional Chapters meeting at the Urban Forestry Center in Portsmouth, NH. The meeting was organized by Kendra Gurney, New England Regional Science Coordinator for TACF. Approximately twenty people attended, including Bryan Burhans, President of TACF. Jim Gage and Jack Ostroff represented the Connecticut chapter.

The discussions throughout the day were quite diverse, but included (among other topics):

Updating the Chestnut Growers Manual
TACF’s TreesDB project
Chapter strategic and tactical planning
Chapter Bylaws
TACF’s Restoration Plan and Restoration Branches
American chestnut range map
Possibility: regional seed orchards

Please note that this is only general overview, and not a complete “minutes” of the meeting. If you want any further information or details about any of the presentations or discussions, please contact any of the people involved directly.

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Chestnut Flower Season is Here

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:12:00 -0700

If you have any new info on the blooming status of trees you are checking, please let us know soon. Please count if the tree or tree cluster has at least 25 blooming tips - hopefully averaging 2 or more females per bag if 25 bags placed. A full line on the first try is our goal. For completing a line we could consider one with fewer tips, but remember it's very expensive for companies to send a truck, would like the probability of harvesting the full balance needed to finish the line.

Bagging may start during the week of the 13th. With the warm weather it appears the season is coming on very fast - much earlier than last year.

We're checking if additional bucket truck companies may be available, so knowing which towns helps with the request. Please consider helping on site. We can send out bags, ties and markers to number the bags, you would need pruning shears (although the truck arborist usually has his/her own). There are resources on our websites about timing and what to do. Some low growing trees may be able to facilitate a successful ground based bagging, please be careful. Keep in mind that the bucket truck companies need advance notice of at least a few days to schedule their trucks.

Gayle Kida
The American Chestnut Foundation®
CT Chapter Tree Breeding Coordinator
Gayle7258gk 'at' gmail 'dot' com

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A Big Thank You for Chestnut Planting Help in Guilford and Middletown

Sun, 16 May 2010 11:32:00 -0700

On Saturday, May 1, 2010 dozens of hardy volunteers battled near-record heat to plant two American chestnut breeding orchards with the Connecticut Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation® (CT-TACF®). Volunteers included CT-TACF Board members, Forestry and Conservation Commission members, high school students, Cub Scouts and many others. Planting would not have been successful without so many willing hands (and backs!) pitching in to plant close to 500 chestnuts. A big Thank You goes out to everyone for their efforts!

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Volunteers Plant the Litchfield Hills Audubon Society's Wigwam Brook Orchard

Sun, 16 May 2010 10:16:00 -0700

Saturday May 8th an eighteen member team of volunteer orchard planters descended on the Litchfield Hills Audubon Society's Wigwam Brook property to plant the new American Chestnut Foundation back-cross chestnut research orchard. The group, made up of members of the CT Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation and members of The Litchfield Hills Audubon Society (and quite a few members of both) sat out the first fifteen minutes in parked cars as a fierce storm crossed the area. Once the storm passed, the planting began. The goal was to plant several lines of back-cross nuts pollinated in June of last year as well a number of control trees. One line came from a tree pollinated by CT-TACF Board Member Gayle Kida in Willington, CT. The other lines were local and pollinated by John Baker in Litchfield, and Bill Moorhead in Torrington.

The event was recorded by Waterbury Republican-American Newspaper Journalist John McKenna and published the following day as a lead story. See the original story as it appeared on-line in the Waterbury Republican-American.

Click on the more link to read more about the event and see additional photos capturing the planting event.

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Spring Chestnut Planting at Wigwam Brook

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:35:00 -0700

Are you looking for a way to welcome spring to CT? Please join the CT Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation for planting at a brand new orchard site! On Saturday, May 8th CT-TACF will plant several American chestnut breeding lines (several hundred trees) at the newly-established Wigwam Book Orchard in Litchfield, CT. [More]

Reminder - CT Chapter Annual Meeting

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:05:00 -0700

Do you know anyone interested in American chestnut and the current work to restore this important species to CT? Please spread the word that the CT Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) will hold our annual meeting in partnership with Trinity College in Hartford on Saturday March 6th.

Mar 4 - Important Notice for those attending the meeting.

Lynne Rieske-Kinney notified us that due to illness she will be unable to attend. We wish Lynne speedy recovery and hope we can reschedule soon! We still have a great program scheduled. We're allocating Lynne's presentation time amongst TACF Regional Science Coordinator Kendra Gurney, TACF President\CEO Bryan Burhans, and Dr. Tom Kubisiak! Tom was thrilled to get more time as he had the results of new research he wanted to share - which of course would take more time. We apologize for any inconvenience.

The meeting is free and open to all, however an RSVP is requested for planning purposes. The meeting includes presentations by USFS Molecular Geneticist Dr. Tom Kubisiak, and entomologist Dr. Lynne Rieske-Kinney of the Univ. of Kentucky. In addition, TACF President Bryan Burhans will attend to speak about TACF's ambitious new restoration plans. In all, the meeting will provide a great snap-shot of where we are, in terms of American chestnut restoration, and where we are going. Plus, this will be a great venue to meet local TACF members who are actively participating in this effort and learn how to get involved! More details are found at the Chapter's web-site or on the printable brochure.

The program includes the lectures, sessions on chestnut identification, 2 hours of CT Forestry\Arborist CEUs for those that qualify, lunch, and a tour of the Watkinson Library special rare-book collection at Trinity ... with a special exhibit produced especially for this event. RSVP Kendra Gurney at 802.951.6771 x1350 or via e-mail at kendra@acf.org.

The goal of the American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) is restoration of the American chestnut tree to its native range within the woodlands of the eastern United States, using a scientific research and breeding program developed by its founders. TACF is restoring a species - and in the process, creating a template for restoration of other tree and plant species. We harvested our first potentially blight-resistant nuts in 2005, and the Foundation hopes to begin reforestation trials with blight-resistant American-type trees before the end of this decade, using sound ecological principles.
Thanks! --
Bill Adamsen
Director, The American Chestnut Foundation®
President, CT Chapter TACF

Kendra Gurney
TACF New England Regional Science Coordinator
802.951.6771 x1350 (o)
802.999.8706 (m)
Kendra@acf.org

Tracing American chestnuts with chloroplast DNA markers

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:32:00 -0700

By Kendra Gurney
TACF® New England Region Science Coordinator

In spring of 2009 Dr. Fenny Dane, a professor at Auburn University, presented her research on the evolutionary history of Castanea species at CT-TACF's Annual Meeting. Dr. Dane has used the DNA of chloroplasts, small organelles within the plant cell, to trace populations of Castanea species over millions of years. The study of chloroplast-DNA is a common tool for plant scientists interested phylogeography because the DNA of the chloroplast is effectively haploid (only has one set of chromosomes) and inherited maternally. This provides the ability to trace seed-mediated migration and colonization of plant populations over time. Differences in chloroplast DNA can be used to designate haplotypes, or different genetic lineages. It has been shown that each Castanea species has several distinct chloroplast types. More differences can be detected among Asian species than within European or North American species using chloroplast DNA analysis. Dr. Dane hypothesizes that the genus originated in Asia, migrated to Europe and then continued west to North America. From an analysis of samples from the Appalachian range of the US we can hypothesize that Castanea found refuge in the southern region of the Appalachian Mountains during glacial periods. Following the retreat of the ice sheet, one lineage, the C. dentata D1 haplotype, migrated in a north-easterly direction. Much of Dr. Dane's work with Castanea in North America has focused on samples from the southern and central Appalachians, where more diversity in chloroplast type has been detected. Dr. Dane suggested that it would be helpful to her work if the CT Chapter could provide her with samples of genetic material from known, validated Castanea dentata (American chestnut) examples from Connecticut. Currently, such specimens are validated by scientists who use a dichotomous key to analyze a sample for traits indicating C. dentata lineage. Positive validation leads to the selection of mother trees appropriate for inclusion in the CT chapter's breeding program. Analyzing the chloroplast DNA of validated C. dentata samples from CT would benefit Dr. Dane's work by providing more samples to support the single north-easterly linage hypothesis. Such an analysis would also benefit the CT Chapter, by verifying that the current process of sample validation for selecting mother trees is in fact identifying pure C. dentata from the local population. This past summer, CT Chapter President Bill Adamsen took on the task of collecting samples for Dr. Dane from the chapter's mother trees, as well as the backcross offspring that have been produced. His total journey was just over three hundred miles and he collected a total of collection totaled thirty five mother tree samples and twelve orchard back-cross samples. Thirty three of those samples collected were submitted to Dr. Dane (some samples were omitted because of collection timing issues) and the results are in! Her graduate student, Xiaowei Li, isolated DNA from the leaf samples and amplified small sections of the chloroplast genome using the polymerase chain reaction, followed by sequencing analysis. All samples showed the C. dentata D1 haplotype, most commonly detected in populations of the American chestnut (see Figures). This means that all samples are from the linage that travelled north-east following the retreat of the ice sheet. The analysis cannot pin-point the origin of the trees any further, but does provide evidence that the mother trees used in the CT Chapter's breeding program are, in fact, Castanea dentata, or American chestnut, which is a nice validation of the careful selection process used. For more information see: Dane, F. 2009. Comparative phylogeography of Castanea species. Proceedings of the Fourth International Chestnut Symposium. Acta Horticulturae 844: 211-222.

Home page of Fenny Dane at Auburn Article by Kendra Gurney
The American Chestnut Foundation®
New England Regional Science Coordinator
USFS Northern Research Station
705 Spear Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
Tel: 802.951.6771 x1350
Cell: 802.999.8706
Kendra@acf.org

2010 Report of CT-TACF Nominating Committee

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:21:00 -0700

CT-TACF Nominating Committee members Robert Gregg, Woods Sinclair and Jennifer Allcock are recommending the following slate of candidates for Board membership and for Chapter Officers: Nominees for Board membership
Under the revised bylaws, as many as 10 Board members can be elected each year. Six current Board members have expiring terms and they have agreed to serve for another two years (terms ending in 2012): Dr. Jennifer Allcock, Dr. Philip Arnold, Dr. David Bingham, Jim Gage, Dr. Robert Gregg, and Woods Sinclair. Two additional candidates have been identified and they have agreed that their names can be added to the nominating slate: John Baker from Litchfield and Susan Kelsey from Falls Village. Please find short biographies below. Two other Board positions have been left vacant so that additional candidates could be considered during the year ahead. Nominees for Officers
The current officers have agreed to stand for re-election and the Nominating Committee presents the following slate of officers for election, each to a one-year term ending in 2011 : Bill Adamsen President, John Anderson Vice-President, Jim Gage Treasurer and Philip Arnold Secretary. Respectfully submitted, Jennifer Allcock, Chairperson, on behalf of the CT-TACF Nominating Committee.

Biographies of individuals nominated for election to the Board at the Annual Meeting on March 6th, 2010. John Baker is Treasurer of the Litchfield Hills Audubon Society (LHAS) and was instrumental in the acquisition of the property, now known as the Wigwam Brook Wildlife Sanctuary, on which the Society's chestnut plantation will be located. He has been a member of TACF since 1998. Born in New York City, but raised on a farm in Litchfield, CT, John received his B.S. from Cornell University in 1956 and joined Cargill, Inc. After serving his country for three years in the U.S. Air Force as a navigator, he spent 34 years with Cargill as the country manager in the Philippines and in Thailand. Upon retiring to Litchfield with his wife Janet, he started beekeeping and joined the LHAS. Then, after building their retirement home, John joined the Litchfield Housing Trust where he shepherded their affordable home building program. He is also President of the C.B. Ripley Land Trust, the CT Director of the Eastern Apiculture Society and is also a member of the Litchfield Conservation Commission. Needless to say, John has a great affection for the outdoors and the beauty of nature.
Susan J. Kelsey Received a B.A. in Biology from Skidmore College and M.F.S. from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Interned and worked at Manomet Bird Observatory (now 'Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences') where also participated in seabird and mammal observer program through NOAA out of Woods Hole, MA. Worked for National Audubon Society Sanctuary Department at Miles Wildlife Sanctuary in Sharon, CT. Employed by a land surveying firm in Salisbury, CT, conducting title searches, field work and assisting in map preparation. Currently am working as a Connecticut licensed forester and have a forestry consulting business, 'Kelsey Forestry'. Majority of work involves certifying private lands as "forest land" for tax assessment purposes, in addition to working with land trusts of northwestern Connecticut. Have served as a member of the Canaan ("Falls Village") Inland Wetlands/Conservation Commission for more than 25 years. "I feel privileged to be in a position that allows me to explore, experience and appreciate the woods of Connecticut. I am endlessly captivated by the history of our forests and am lured to every stonewall , charcoal bed and stone foundation I wander across."

TACF Tree Web Application

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:34:00 -0700

By Bill Adamsen - Wilton, CT
Director of The American Chestnut Foundation, President, CT Chapter

The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) has embarked on a major initiative to bring its tree data closer to the end user by developing a web-interface on a database application. The solution is expected to allow members and constituents to use on-line forms to provide observation data on wild trees, orchards, and restoration plantings. Outside collaborators can create experiments and analyze metrics for success by leveraging internal algorithms such as coefficients for kinship and inbreeding to help define optimal pedigrees. The goal is to support the efforts of TACF to develop a blight resistant American chestnut through a traditional plant breeding program. [More]

Chestnut and Invertebrate Extinctions

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:19:00 -0700

By Bill Adamsen - Wilton, CT
Director of The American Chestnut Foundation, President, CT Chapter

A few weeks ago I had the chance to speak to Dr. David Wagner at the University of CT about the functional extinction of the American chestnut and he commented with an anecdote I'd not heard before. He pointed out that the functional extinction of the American chestnut accounts for a significant percentage of the recorded invertebrate extinctions in modern times. In fact Dr. Wagner provided this qualified quote ...

“American chestnut extinction correlates to the greatest invertebrate extinctions on earth in the modern era. That there are only 61 invertebrate extinctions in modern era ... 41 in North America and of those, 5 are directly related to loss of chestnut.”
Dr. David Wagner

The five insects believed to be extinct as a result of the chestnut's demise (see the IUCN Red List) are Argyresthia castanella, Ectoedemia castaneae, Ectoedemia phleophaga, Tischeria perplexa, and Swammerdamia castaneae. In fact, seven are (were) red-listed as extinct but two of those - Synanthedon castaneae and Coleophora leucochrysella - have been subsequently found by Dr. Wagner and his team. While the specifics are probably important, the general concept is truly monumental. Loss of a single species in an isolated ecosystem can have dramatic and unanticipated effects. In the most recent publication of the Annual Review of Entomology, David Wagner and Roy G. Van Driesche discuss some of the threats to rare insects by invasive species and the evidence is telling .

Since its discovery in Michigan in 2002, the Chinese buprestid Agrilus planipennis has killed more than 30 million ash (Fraxinus) trees in the northcentral United States (43, 122). If ash suffers the same fate as American chestnut (Castanea dentata), numerous Fraxinus specialists will perish. Wagner (168) identified 21 ash-feeding moths and butterflies potentially threatened by the beetle, of which five sphingids--Ceratomia undulosa, Manduca jasminearum, Sphinx canadensis, Sphinx chersis, and Sphinx franckii--are thought to be especially vulnerable.
Annual Review of Entomology 2010 55:565

This is a good reminder of the complexity of our ecology and the impact of a single foreign invasive pathogen. A bird lover, I always wonder how insect abundance affects birds. There is of course much more to the puzzle. If you have comments or other examples, please feel free to put them in the comments below.

Pre-Blight Chestnut Mast Estimates

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:43:00 -0700

By Bill Adamsen - Wilton, CT
Director of The American Chestnut Foundation, President, CT Chapter

Several months ago a friend sent a link to an article which provides evidence that chestnut really was a dependable source of food for wildlife - something frequently mentioned - but without documentation. After reading the article Hard Mast Production Before and After the Chestnut Blight I thought more CT Chapter members might appreciate the opportunity to read it. It provides a comparison of estimated hard nut production in a Southern Appalachian forest that happened to be assessed carefully at the time of the blight, for hardwood composition. The immediate impression the article had on me - was realization of the impact the loss of a high volume producer (chestnut) must have had on wildlife. Looking at the graph below (or reading the referenced article) one is struck by how dissimilar the large year-to-year variability in mast production among oaks is to chestnuts (the bright green section on histogram bars to left). The loss of American chestnut must have greatly increased mortality for many mammals and birds which would have depended on the stable and consistent food supply chestnut provided.

The below graph uses the data provided in Hard Mast Production Before and After the Chestnut Blight to display calculated total hard mast production for a 10 yr interval in a Coweeta Basin forest before and approximataly 35 years after the chestnut blight epidemic.
All data by Diamond, Giles, Kirkpatrick and Griffin
Graph formatting by Bill Adamsen

The publication is available on-line. The authors are Seth J. Diamond, Robert H. Giles, Jr., and Roy L. Kirkpatrick, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, and Gary J. Griffin, Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Thanks to Leila Pinchot for forwarding the article.

Annual Report of CT Chapter Operations

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:33:00 -0700

By Bill Adamsen
Director of The American Chestnut Foundation
President, CT Chapter TACF
Wilton, CT

With the rush of autumn harvest over, The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF®) and its Chapters finally get the opportunity to look back and take stock of the past year. Some of you will know that it was just four years ago that the CT Chapter TACF® planted its first back-cross orchards (April 2006). In those four years our efforts have been met with remarkable success. We now have seven orchards and have planted several thousand trees - an accomplishment of which to be very proud.
*Note: Charts have been updated as of February 10, 2010 and are now complete and current.

Table 1. CT Program Overview *

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