The American Chestnut Research & Restoration Project at ESF
A Forest Reborn
The ESF American Chestnut Project has developed a blight-tolerant American chestnut tree, and is working to restore this iconic and valuable cultural symbol to the forest ecosystems of the eastern United States.
Contact
For general information or to be added to our notification list. *Please include your first and last name, email address and city/state (optional).
Kaitlin Breda, chestnut@esf.edu
For information on educational plantings and future distribution.
Adriana Del Grosso, ardelgro@esf.edu,
315-470-6828
A Growing Effort
- We nearly killed off these trees. But biotech can bring them back. (Washington Post, 5/18)
Learn more about how a solution developed by ESF researchers is leading the way in returning the American chestnut to our forests.
Distribution Status
We are excited to announce progress toward the likely release of Darling 58 blight-tolerant American chestnuts! The USDA-APHIS recently published two key documents for their regulatory review process, and they’re again asking for public feedback via the Federal Register. These documents are draft versions of their final regulatory decisions, so we’d appreciate thoughtful and supportive comments as they prepare to finalize their decision. You can read these documents and provide feedback.
Join Us!
We have started growing 10,000 blight-resistant American chestnut trees to restore the tree to its native range. Help us meet the challenge!
