Summer 2024 11 resistance, and physical traits like height and growth from a single main stem that make the American chestnut a highly sought after timber tree. Then, the DNA from each of these trees was sequenced to correlate desired physical traits with their genetic markers. By phenotyping and genotyping trees within the breeding program, TACF can discern genes that are heritable and confer disease resistance. TACF is then able to design crosses maximizing blight and PRR resistance, while ensuring that the genome of each offspring is at least 70 percent American chestnut. The bulk of the trees in TACF’s breeding program are planted at Meadowview Research Farms in Meadowview, Va. Meadowview Research Farms is made up of three farms: the Price, Duncan, and Wagner farms. The Duncan and Wagner farms serve as breeding and seed orchards. The trees planted on these farms are offspring of TACF’s original backcross breeding program and have now been genotyped and phenotype so that they may be used in the new genomic selection breeding program. The Price Farm is used as an experimental research station. Here, staff conduct progeny tests on seedlings to observe and measure blight resistance of offspring, while also developing techniques to accelerate breeding, assess potential bio controls, and evaluate restoration potential in trees produced by our breeding program or through biotechnological methods. Virginia is unique in that it does not just have Meadowview Research Farms, it also has Lesesne State Forest, located in Nelson County and managed by the Virginia Department of Forestry. Lesesne State Forest has several chestnut orchards, mainly backcross hybrid trees like those located at Meadowview Research Farms and wild-type American chestnut trees, including some large surviving American chestnuts that are thought to have natural resistance to chestnut blight. Most of these trees were planted in the late 1960s and early 1970s in a push by the Commonwealth of Virginia to breed blight resistant American chestnut trees. The orchards at Lesesne have been incorporated into TACF’s regional breeding program. Lesesne acts as a hub for crosses conducted in the Mid-Atlantic region that includes Maryland, West Virginia, and Kentucky in addition to Virginia. Citizen Science at the Heart of American Chestnut Tree Improvement and Restoration For decades, citizen science has been an integral part of American chestnut restoration efforts. Working both independently and in tandem with non-profit, government, and academic researchers, chestnut enthusiasts have played a crucial role in stewarding the multi-generational work of experimental and production orchard establishment, disease resistance testing, and distribution of chestnut seeds, seedlings, and pollen into landscapes and communities throughout the eastern United States. Within the structure of TACF, citizen scientists and other volunteers are organized into state chapters—some states singly and others paired with their neighbors. Each
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