The Journal of the American Chestnut Foundation
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WINTER 2020 ~ ISSUE 1 VOL. 34 THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT FOUNDATION A BENEFIT TO MEMBERS 3BUR ~ The “Avalon” Tree ~ Annual Meeting Highlights ~ Chestnut Natural Range ~ Safety Tests WINTER 2020 ~ ISSUE 1 VOL. 34 THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT FOUNDATION 1 3 10 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE NEWS FROM TACF NEWS FROM TACF from Lisa Thomson 3BUR NE-1833 Meeting Phytophthora Screening Update Photo Contest Winners The “Avalon” Tree Chestnut Address 15 20 23 2019 ANNUAL MEETING HISTORY & CULTURE RSC COLUMN HIGHLIGHTS Entirely American Chestnut Natural Range of the United Methodist Church American Chestnut 26 30 31 SCIENCE RECIPE TRIBUTES Safety Tests on Transgenic Chestnut Chocolate Torte Dennis Fulbright American Chestnut Ann Leffel William “Bill” Lord Storage Media and Surface Sterilization in IN HONOR AND Seed Stratification IN MEMORY A BENEFIT TO MEMBERS PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE DEAR CHESTNUT ENTHUSIASTS, A new decade is upon us! It is rare in today’s fast-paced world that hundreds of citizen scientists, professional researchers, academic leaders and trusted partners are involved in a bold experiment that has taken decades to achieve, with more work ahead of us. That said, we are not daunted by the tasks at hand, because new discoveries and technologies are bringing us closer every year to mission success. We had much to celebrate at year’s end, including a feature story about our work on CBS This Morning that aired December 5th! Crews from the network visited our Meadowview Research Farms in June and October and Lisa Thomson spent hours capturing footage and conducting interviews. An inspirational five-minute story was the result. CBS This Morning published it on their President and CEO YouTube channel. In less than two weeks, the story received more than a quarter million views, and that number continues to rise! If you missed it, enter this link into your web browser: http://bit.ly/CBSchestnutstory We enjoyed seeing many of you at the fall meeting in Gettysburg, PA. It was a strong turnout of enthusiastic chestnutters and we were treated to excellent presentations, entertainment and field excursions. Mark your calendar for October 3, 2020 for the next gathering right here in Asheville, now renamed the American Chestnut Symposium. We heard your feedback that you would like more scientific content and overall chestnut learning opportunities in the seminars and are gearing it toward that need. As 2019 draws to a close, and we enter this new decade, it is clear to me and our many dedicated volunteers and partners that restoration of the American chestnut is inching closer to reality. That this effort has been underway for more than a century is nothing short of a miracle. I can’t think of any other conservation rescue mission that has endured this long-term tenacity and desire to succeed. We will succeed because we have your energy, enthusiasm and generosity to ensure it does. With gratitude, Lisa Thomson, President and CEO The American Chestnut Foundation Follow me on Twitter (@MadameChestnut). TheThe NEW Journal Journal of The of The American American Chestnut Chestnut Foundation Foundation ~ 1 WHAT WE DO The mission of The American Chestnut Foundation is to return the iconic American chestnut to its native range. [email protected] acf.org CONTACT US facebook.com/americanchestnut twitter.com/chestnut1904 instagram/tacf1983 TACF National Office Mid-Atlantic Regional Office North Central Regional Office 50 N. Merrimon Avenue The American Chestnut Pennsylvania State University Suite 115 Foundation 206 Forest Resources Lab Asheville, NC 28804 900 Natural Resources Drive University Park, PA 16802 (828) 281-0047 Charlottesville, VA 22903 (814) 863-7192 (828) 281-0047 Meadowview Research Farms Southern Regional Office 29010 Hawthorne Drive New England Regional Office 50 N. Merrimon Avenue Meadowview, VA 24361-3349 UVM Aiken Forestry Service Suite 115 (276) 944-4631 Labs / USFS NRS Asheville, NC 28804 705 Spear Street (434) 906-9312 South Burlington, VT 05403 (802) 999-8706 OFFICERS Bruce Wakeland, IN Cherin Marmon-Saxe, CHAIRMAN: John Wenderoth, DE Office and Business Brian McCarthy, Ph.D., OH Systems Manager EMERITUS MEMBERS IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR: Heather Nelson, Controller Michael D. Doochin, TN Essie Burnworth (posthumously) Jules Smith, Media & SECRETARY AND GOVERNANCE Dr. Gary Carver Communications Manager COMMITTEE CHAIR: Herbert F. Darling, Jr. Jared Westbrook, Ph.D. William Jay Cude, TN Hugh Irwin Director of Science TREASURER AND FINANCE Dr. William G. Lord (d) Shana Zimnoch, The Ort Tree COMMITTEE CHAIR: William L. MacDonald, Ph.D. Gifts and Records Specialist Barbara Tormoehlen, OH Glen Rea A “Large Surviving American” MEADOWVIEW SENIOR SCIENCE ADVISOR: Rufin Van Bossuyt Eric Jenkins, (LSA) chestnut located near York, PA. Kim Steiner, Ph.D., PA Richard Will This American chestnut tree has Tree Breeding Coordinator SCIENCE AND CHIEF SCIENTIST EMERITUS Lily Kingsolver, Nursery Manager demonstrated resistance to chestnut TECHNOLOGY CHAIR : Frederick V. Hebard, Ph.D. Dan McKinnon, blight both by the appearance of the Steve Barilovits III, NC HONORARY DIRECTORS Director of Farm Operations cankers on the main stem – visible LEGAL COUNSEL: Donald C. Willeke, Esq., MN President Jimmy Carter Jim Tolton, in this photo – as well as in the Farm Maintenance Technician PRESIDENT & CEO: Richard A. Jaynes, Ph.D. Brandon Yañez-Breeding, increased blight-resistance its Lisa Thomson Mrs. Mary Belle Price (d) Research Technician backcross progeny have above other Peter H. Raven, Ph.D. BOARD OF DIRECTORS pedigrees. The Ort tree was one of Philip A. Rutter, Ph.D. REGIONAL SCIENCE the first American chestnuts used Hill Craddock, Ph.D., TN Edward O. Wilson, Ph.D. COORDINATORS by the PA/NJ TACF Chapter in its Deborah Delmer, Ph.D., NC Sara Fitzsimmons, Carolyn Howes Keiffer, Ph.D., OH STAFF breeding program in 1996, led by Ann North Central, and Director Dennis Liu, Ph.D., NC ASHEVILLE of Restoration and Bob Leffel. We pay tribute to Ann Gregory Miller, Ph.D., OH Lisa Thomson, President & CEO Kendra Collins, New England later in this issue, having lost her and Allen Nichols, NY Betsy Gamber, Ben Jarrett, Southern two other long-time TACF leaders Z. Cartter Patten, TN Vice President of Operations Thomas Saielli, Mid-Atlantic around the Thanksgiving holiday. Jim Searing, PA Judy Antaramian, Jeanne Romero-Severson, Membership Coordinator EDITORIAL Ph.D., IN Samantha Bowers, Lisa Alford, Design & Layout Bradford Stanback, NC Grants Manager 2 ~ A Benefit to Members NEWS FROM TACF PART 1 of a 4-Part Series 3BUR USING SCIENCE TO SAVE THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT TREE The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) takes a holistic approach toward American chestnut restoration, utilizing a three-pronged research strategy known as the 3BUR method (Breeding, Biocontrol, and Biotechnology United for Restoration). These research tracks are meant to be integrated through collaborations that are mutually beneficial, so we can explore all avenues to reach the common goal of saving and restoring this species as quickly as possible. In part 1 of this four-part series, we briefly define the three research tracks. Parts 2-4 will detail each track, explaining how employing multiple pathways are essential in order to create a disease-tolerant and genetically diverse population of American chestnut that will adapt to a broad and changing climate. The Journal of The American Chestnut Foundation ~ 3 NEWS FROM TACF BIOCONTROL 3BUR: Breeding, Biotechnology and Biocontrol United for Restoration B1 – Breeding. of American chestnut genes in the resulting Our traditional breeding program is carried out progeny. The SUNY-ESF research is so at our research farm in Meadowview, VA, and promising, that we believe TACF can obtain the at more than 500 orchards planted, largely by governmental approval required from the USDA, volunteers and partners, across sixteen TACF FDA, and the EPA to plant transgenic American chapters throughout the American chestnut’s chestnut trees in the wild in three to five years. native range. During the past 36 years, offspring B3 – Biocontrol. from two blight-tolerant hybrids have been bred The primary biological control method being with American chestnuts from across the species explored by TACF and its partners is called range. Three generations later, our traditional hypovirulence. This is the term used for the breeding program has produced a genetically infection of the chestnut blight fungus by diverse population of American chestnut hybrids a virus, thereby sickening the fungus and with improved blight tolerance. Moving forward, reducing the ability of chestnut blight fungus our breeding efforts are focused on further to cause lethal infections. Using this method, improving blight tolerance and incorporating the natural defenses of the chestnut tree may resistance to Phytophthora cinnamomi, which enable the tree to halt canker growth. These causes a fatal root rot in chestnuts. We are BIOTECHNOLOGY BIOTECHNOLOGY methods can keep blight-susceptible American using genomics to increase the speed and chestnut trees alive and healthy so that they accuracy of selecting trees with the greatest can be used in our transgenic and traditional tolerance to chestnut blight and root rot. breeding programs. Other fungi and bacteria are B2 – Biotechnology. being investigated which may play additional roles in reducing the effect of the chestnut At the core of our biotechnology program is blight fungus on American chestnut trees. transgenics, the science of introducing