Ohio The American Chestnut 🌰 Foundation (TACF)

There was a specialist American chestnut bee. It was rediscovered on chinkapins in Maryland in 2019.

Someone found one in an american chestnut orchard last year

www.inaturalist.org/observations...

A bee specimen pictured against a black background. It has iridescent wings and a white fuzz covering most of its body.

It's not possible to choose just one but since I see other people have already mentioned most of my favorites, I'll pick the American chestnut bee, which has not been seen in decades due to the loss of the chestnut tree. But I feel like it has to be out there somewhere in an Appalachian forest.

Story of the lost American Chestnut Bee (Andrena rehni) and its rediscovery. Check out TACF.org for more.
#ecology #nativeplants #nativehabitat #americanchestnut #nativebees #pollinators

American chestnut seedling

Here is a seedling in full sun

Sprouted chestnut seed

We are getting ready to plant last years seeds indoors. We plant wild type seeds and they can be planted outside in late May in Ohio.

tacf.org/wp-content/u...

This is a nice chart of the growth of an American Chestnut tree. That was in the past. The blight significantly stunts the growth. We find a few trees of 50' tall in Ohio but not many.

Images of American Chestnut trees with blight.

The blight on American Chestnuts

One of our recent plans are to find native companion plants for American Chestnut trees. It would be great to hear your recommendations. We are beginning to work with parks and are grateful for the policies to plant native

The American Chestnut supported a bee. It is likely still around.
"It is also inextricably tied to chestnuts; it is a diet specialist, using only the pollen of plants in the genus Castanea as food to rear its young."
blog.lasdonpark.org/finding-the-...

The Medina middle school has a chestnut club. The teacher coordinator had a classroom project on the American chestnut and the class planted B3F3 and wild type trees at the school and at city parks with coordination with the city arborist

We are working to get 100 trees planted with the scouts at camp Manatoc. The planting will be part of a stewardship program the camp does for the scouts

The Ohio TACF will be gathering scion wood in Ohio this February. If you think you have an American Chestnut please contact us at the email address listed. We have many partners in Northeast Ohio and looking for more

We have projects throughout the state of Ohio. But we are making progress in Northeast Ohio getting seed to members and trees in the ground. MCDP is a great partner and planted 200 B3F3 trees last year.

Our group in NE Ohio is interested in the insect activity on AC trees and if having other chestnut trees would have kept chestnut insects from disappearing.

You may feel more comfortable going to the web and finding your local chapter

tacf.org

I have only eaten Chinese and Italian European nuts. They era both good. The AC nuts are used for seed so I have not eaten any.

When the American Chestnut Vanished, What Happened to Insects That Fed On It? Wiped out by a fungal disease nearly a century ago, the American chestnut tree was a keystone species that served as host to myriad insects. A new study documents the community of chestnut-feeding lea...

Wiped out nearly a century ago, the American chestnut tree was a keystone species that served host to myriad insects. A new study details the community of chestnut-feeding leafminer and stem miner insects still present in New York state and how they fare on other, non-native chestnut species.

Please email us and I will put you in touch with your local TACF

Was inspired in discussing chestnuts with Rachael to post about the American chestnut. It's an important vestige of the past. It was once a food source for both people and animals. The American Chestnut Foundation is working on developing a blight resistant chestnut.

tacf.org/history-amer...

Hacking Trees To Bring Back The American Chestnut “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” is playing on the radio now in the Northern Hemisphere which begs the question, “What happened to the American chestnut?” Would you be s…

Some more interesting information

hackaday.com/2024/11/29/h...

Archive and library special collections as proxy data: reconstructing the American chestnut blight through digitized collections - Archival Science This paper discusses the design and implications of a study that explored the potential for archives and library special collections to serve as historical environmental proxy data to support the reco...

"This paper discusses the design and implications of a study that explored the potential for archives and library special collections to serve as historical environmental proxy data to support the reconstruction of the spatiotemporal spread of the American chestnut blight in Tennessee"

American chestnuts are part of Yuletide lore. But in the US, they've nearly been wiped out Right now chestnut enthusiasts are cozying up next to their open fires (or toaster ovens) to roast a holiday snack that has long roots in North America.

apnews.com/article/amer...

American chestnuts went from 4 billion to all but extinct. An SC orchard is helping bring them back. An SC orchard is helping restore the American chestnut tree, the dominate tree in eastern U.S. forests and Appalachia until Asian chestnut blight killed them.

A good article

www.postandcourier.com/greenville/n...

The 2024 American Chestnut harvest form our Mohican orchard

tacf.org