8 VIRGINIA FORESTS An immature female chestnut flower (2024). Foundation (TACF), created in 1983 to continue these efforts. DOF’s partnership with TACF has been fruitful as the Foundation plays a large role in the management and selections at Lesesne State Forest. Today at Lesesne State Forest, there are three different chestnut orchards on site. The first and oldest is the original Connecticut Hybrid Seed Orchard, originally thought to be F1 hybrids (50% Chinese or Japanese and 50% American). However, genotype testing has revealed that the percentages vary by tree. This orchard contains trees that are approximately 50–55 years old and are therefore larger trees with a completely closed canopy. Due to the high levels of Chinese and Japanese ancestry, this orchard is no longer used for controlled pollinations or collection, but the site has potential for future research studies, including silvicultural strategies for chestnut restoration. The second oldest orchard is our American Orchard. Unfortunately, blight has knocked back most of the trees planted from irradiated nuts. From 1980 to 1984 DOF foresters, led by Tom Dierauf and Dr. Gary Griffin of Virginia Tech, grafted more than 1,000 trees with scion wood collected from wild Large Surviving American (LSA) trees across Virginia. The surviving individuals include notable trees such as Ragged Mountain (Albemarle), Thompson (Appomattox), Thoroughfare Gap (Fauqier), Poor Farm Tom Dierauf (previous Chief of Applied Forest Research) in an 11-year-old chestnut orchard at Lesesne State Forest circa 1980. (Nelson), and Loudoun. For reference, to be categorized as a LSA chestnut the tree must be greater than 10-inches DBH (diameter measured at 4 ½ feet above the ground) and survive with the blight for more than five years. These trees are about 40–44 years old and remain the largest in the American Orchard. This orchard is used for back crosses with the hybrids as well as LSA crosses that we even sell through DOF’s nurseries! In the future, TACF and DOF hope to work on a germplasm conservation orchard where we can plant the many wild-type American chestnuts we find still producing burs and pollen in the wild. DOF’s last and youngest orchard at Lesesne is the Backcross Hybrid Orchard. As trees were added as selections and crosses over the last 35 years, this orchard contains a variety of different ages. This orchard includes genetics from the older Connecticut Hybrid Orchard and wild type Americans from across Virginia. Records for this orchard are meticulous, including details that allow DOF staff to continue the work of selection based on both genotype and phenotype. DOF and TACF devote about four weeks every summer bagging and pollinating specific genetic selections within the Backcross Orchard. Lesesne chestnut orchards are home to many lines of DNA critical to the state’s breeding program. Many of the trees are unique in their form and blight resistance, and we continue
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