Notes from the President
By Mark Stallings

Beginnings are always fragile.  That’s why so many organizations and businesses have such a difficult time during the first full year.

            Your Georgia Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation is no different.  Without the vision of the founding members, the on-going recruitment of new volunteers, identification of new sources for funding and orchard sites, and the continued hard work and dedication to our basic mission, we would not have the strong organization that exists today.  A volunteer organization is only as good as the people willing to take their turns contributing to the goals of the organization.  We are very lucky to have such a strong group of dedicated members that want to restore the American chestnut tree to its native habitat.   Successes and strategies for this past year include:

The pending establishment of our first orchard site at Berry College
One of the Fowler tree nuts germinating
Pollination and germination at the Pocket
Continued training of our volunteers in pollination and tree care
Presentations to new audiences about our mission
Continued establishment of committees and designated volunteers
Concern for continuity that maximizes long-term success
Planting a tree honoring Mary Belle Price on the Dalton College campus
Publicity in various newspapers and other publications
Meyer tree nuts being planted at the Berry College greenhouse
Planned fall planting of the Meyer tree seedlings at Berry College

            Needless to say, this is not all that has happened.  We have a lot on our plate, and we will need a lot more volunteer help in the coming years.  If you have the time, we need your help with the many issues we face.  Please come to our spring meeting and volunteer your time and energy to help us in our efforts to restore the American chestnut tree, the “King of the Forest.”

A Research Report
By Dave Keehn

2005 was a year of firsts for the Georgia chapter. We pollinated our first native Georgia trees with backcross pollen and harvested our first nuts. The harvest yield was less than spectacular, but the experience gained was invaluable. With that experience, and with some new trees that we hope to pollinate, we look forward to a more fruitful year in 2006.            

            The nuts that we harvested this year are known as ‘BC3’, which means they represent the third backcross of a Chinese-American tree with a pure American chestnut. These nuts are roughly 95% American chestnut genetically, and will grow into mature trees that are outwardly indistinguishable from a 100% American chestnut tree. Genetically, their Chinese heritage provides some level of chestnut blight resistance at this stage. Since the genetics of blight resistance is not limited to a single gene, our work is not done here.

            In order to obtain high levels of blight resistance, there are two more steps, called intercrosses, in which we take BC3 trees and cross them with other BC3 trees. These steps produce BC3F2 and finally BC3F3 trees. BC3F3 trees are the “finished product”, both characteristically American chestnut in appearance and form, with blight resistance levels comparable to a Chinese chestnut. 

            TACF Meadowview Research Farm produced the first BC3F3 nuts this year. However, in addition to these nuts being in very limited supply, one of the tasks that each chapter is assigned is to develop local “lines” of American chestnut from mother trees found in the geographical area, in order to ensure maximum suitability for eventual reforestation.

            With the new Berry College orchard, we prepare for the next step, which is to plant our BC3 trees in the ground. At Berry College, we will be planting both the BC3 trees and some pure American trees as controls. 

            The other challenge that we face in restoring the American chestnut comes from the deadly fungus Phytophora sp., known as black ink disease or root rot. Phytophthora is particularly problematic in the Southeast. Long before chestnut blight felled the American chestnut, phytophthora devastated chestnut  trees in the lower elevations of central, southern and even coastal Georgia. Based on field observations, we have recognized that the southern chapters also need to breed for phytophthora resistance.