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THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT PROJECT
Support Us

We work in a not-for-profit model to restore this ecologically important keystone species to our forests. We are not patenting our blight-tolerant American chestnut trees, so once we have regulatory approval, anyone can propagate them for personal or restoration use. This is a long restoration project, and we need your help. Your donation funds our research and development. It also supports our work to produce more blight-tolerant trees for restoration. Every donation counts.

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Bill Powell planting a chestnut sapling

Our Supporters

Our support comes from

Donations from individuals like you: Make your secure Online Donation to the American Chestnut Fund.

  • American Chestnut Restoration, Inc. (formerly New York Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation)
  • 10,000 Chestnut Challenge crowdfunding campaign
  • ArborGen LLC
  • Camp Fire Clubs of America
  • The Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research (CPBR)
  • The Forest Health Initiative (FHI)
  • The G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation
  • Institute of Forest Biotechnology
  • Lions Club of Chittenango, NY
  • The National Hardwood Lumber Association
  • New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR)
  • Northern Nut Growers Association
  • Templeton World Charity Foundation
  • The American Chestnut Foundation
  • USDA CREES competitive grants (now NIFA)
  • USDA NIFA BRAG program
  • USDA McIntire-Stennis formula funds
  • Weyerhaeuser New England
  • Wildlife Mississippi (Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation)
  • Wild Turkey Federation

New York State Legislature: New York State American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project, sponsored by Senator Mary Lou Rath.

 

Plant Chestnuts, Be a Citizen Scientist

While you wait for our blight-tolerant, transgenic trees to become available, we suggest planting wild-type (non-transgenic) American chestnuts. Doing so has several benefits:

  • Ecological value: Although susceptible to blight, wild-type trees still contribute to the local ecosystem during their lifetime.
  • Site testing: Starting with wild-type trees lets you test site conditions before you plant the more valuable transgenic trees. If your wild-type trees thrive, your blight-tolerant trees will thrive alongside them for years to come.
  • Mother trees: Once your wild-type chestnuts reach flowering age, you can make them "mother trees" by pollinating their flowers with our transgenic pollen to produce blight-tolerant nuts. You can do this once we receive federal regulatory approval and are allowed to distribute pollen.

If you already have flowering American chestnuts on your property, you can also join our citizen scientist pollination effort. Watch our virtual pollination workshop to learn how to identify female flowers and perform controlled pollination. Please only pollinate flowers you can reach safely. Your participation helps us preserve the surviving genetic diversity of the American chestnut and build a genetically diverse population of blight-tolerant trees. To learn more about the pollination program, email [email protected].