American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation

"Dedicated to the Restoration of American Chestnuts"

Quick Links

The American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation is a nonprofit scientific and educational  foundation dedicated to restoring the American Chestnut Tree to its former place in our Eastern hardwood forests. Priorities include the development of blight-resistant all-American chestnuts and economical biological control measures against chestnut blight in the forest environment. As of April 2007, American chestnut cooperators have planted 117,792 seedlings and 59,628 seednuts from our all-American orchards.            

In the first 40 years of the 20th century, blight destroyed 3.5 billion American chestnut trees. What had been the most important tree in our Eastern forest was reduced to insignificance. No comparable devastation of a species exists in recorded history.

Thank you for stopping by! 

Virginia Tech Mirror Site

  To learn about some American chestnuts in the heart of the natural range which continue to survive although they have been infected with the blight since 1982,  click on the link below.  While reading this story be sure to keep in mind that blight control is possible only when American chestnuts have blight resistance.

Integrated Management for Chestnut Blight Control

Impact of American Chestnut Blight on Forest Communities

When Money Grew on Trees

All information on this site was written &/or approved by Lucille  & Gary Griffin and John Rush Elkins, respectively, Executive  Director American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation,  Professor of Plant Pathology at Virginia Tech, and Professor  of Chemistry, Concord College, West Virginia.  You are welcome to copy everything printed on this site for your information. Please credit anything quoted for publication to The American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation. This site was created  February 1997.

ACCF 

2667 Forest Service Road 708

  Newport, VA 24128

Mirror Page

"It is not beyond the grasp of science to restore the American chestnut to economic importance. It could be accomplished within the next 50 years."

-- Prof. Gary Griffin, Virginia Tech

ACCF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Dues and all contributions are tax deductible.

Lucille Griffin, Executive Director

Gary Griffin, President, Professor Emeritus of Plant Pathology, Virginia Tech

Dave McCurdy, Vice-president, retired  Superintendent, Clements State Tree Nursery, WV

John Rush Elkins, Secretary, Research Chemist, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, Concord  College, WV

William Pilkington, Treasurer,   Financial Advisor, Ghent, WV

Ed Greenwell, Vice President and Director of Tennessee chestnut projects,  Meriwether Lewis Electric Cooperative Vice President of Operations