The American Chestnut Foundation

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Nonprofit Overview

Causes: Animals, Biological & Life Sciences, Botanical, Horticultural & Landscape Services, Environment, Forest Conservation, Wildlife Preservation & Protection

Mission: The American Chestnut Foundation has one simple goal: to restore the American chestnut to its native forests. Destroyed by an imported blight many consider the worst environmental disaster of the twentieth century, the American chestnut was virtually eliminated from the eastern hardwood forest between 1904 and 1940. With its loss, wildlife populations plummeted; never to return to former levels. With recent developments in genetics, there is promise that this critically important wildlife food source and timber tree will again become part of our natural heritage. To make this possibility a reality, a group of prominent scientists, in 1983, established the non-profit research-oriented American Chestnut Foundation (TACF). The Foundation's mission is simple: to restore the American chestnut as an integral part of the eastern forest ecosystem. TACF is employing traditional plant breeding techniques, backed by advanced research methods, to develop a blight resistant American chestnut tree. TACF is restoring a species - and in the process, creating a template for restoration of other tree and plant species.

Community Stories

1 Story from Volunteers, Donors & Supporters

3 sbowers0612

sbowers0612 General Member of the Public

Rating: 5

01/05/2017

I have worked at TACF for a year now, and the ceaseless stories our volunteers share about their family's experiences with the American chestnut are heartwarming. These stories inspire us to work harder at bringing back a tree species so intricately entwined in Native American and American cultures . It is an honor to be a part of this journey with the hopes of setting a platform for restoring other tree species, as well.

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