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THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT PROJECT
Support the Project

We work in a not-for-profit model in order to promote the restoration of this ecologically important keystone species to our forests. We are not patenting the blight resistant American chestnut trees so that once we have regulatory approval, all people will be able to propagate them for personal or restoration use. This will be a long restoration project and we will need your help. Your donation goes towards funding our research and development as well as our efforts to produce more blight-tolerant trees for restoration. Each donation counts.

Support the Project

Bill Powell planting a chestnut sapling

Our Supporters

Our support comes from

Donations from individuals like you: Make a Secure Online Donation to the American Chestnut Fund!

New York Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation

10,000 Chestnut Challenge crowdfunding campaign

Templeton World Charity Foundation

USDA NIFA BRAG program

Camp Fire Clubs of America

Weyerhaeuser New England

Lions Club of Chittenango, NY

USDA NIFA BRAG program

The Forest Health Initiative (FHI)

ArborGen LLC

The Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research (CPBR)

The American Chestnut Foundation

Institute of Forest Biotechnology

Wildlife Mississippi (Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation)

The National Hardwood Lumber Association

Wild Turkey Federation

Northern Nut Growers Association

The G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation

USDA CREES competitive grants (now NIFA)

USDA McIntire-Stennis formula funds

New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR)

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 that you plant wild-type (non-transgenic) American chestnuts. There are many benefits to planting wild-type American chestnuts. First, although they are susceptible to the blight, these trees will still provide many benefits to the local ecosystem during their lifetime. Second, planting wild-type trees is a good way to 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. Lastly, once your wild-type chestnuts reach flowering age, you can use them as “mother trees” by pollinating them with pollen from our transgenic trees to produce blight-tolerant nuts. We will be able to distribute pollen from our trees, in addition to seeds, seedlings, and other plant material, once we receive federal regulatory approval.

If you currently have flowering American chestnuts on your property, you can participate in our citizen scientist pollination effort as well. Watch our virtual pollination workshop to learn more about identifying female flowers and about the controlled pollination procedure. We encourage you to only attempt to pollinate flowers that you can reach safely. By participating, you aid us in our goal to preserve the surviving genetic diversity of the American chestnut population and to build a genetically diverse population of blight-tolerant trees. To learn more about how you can participate in our citizen scientist pollination program, please email chestnut@esf.edu.