Working to Restore the American Chestnut.
Three Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards participated in a recent effort to treat chestnut seedlings with chestnut blight fungus. This is done to help develop a strain of the chestnut that will be resistant to the blight that wiped out this magnificent tree starting in the early years of the twentieth century. The chestnut was prized for its wood and its generous crops of nuts and was considered by many to be “the most valuable tree in the country.”
The American Chestnut Foundation and the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards worked together on this inoculation program under the supervision of the Virginia Department of Forestry at the New Kent Forestry Center in Providence Forge, Virginia on Friday, July 20, 2018. The intent of the program is to re-establish the American Chestnut tree in its native range in the woodlands of eastern North America.
Sixteen hundred chestnut seedlings were treated by sixteen volunteers, including the three Tree Stewards. The stems of the chestnut seedlings were inoculated with chestnut blight fungus and will be inspected over the upcoming months to help identify the most resistant families of seedlings in the breeding program.
The photo shows Tom Wild, who is a member of the American Chestnut Foundation and a certified Tree Steward.
Potting up young trees for CATS’s Fall 2018 sale.
One dozen CATS volunteers braved a rainy day to pot 235 whip trees at our nursery on the grounds of the Grand View Nursery, on Tuesday, May 22, from 9-12:00. The young trees will be part of the Fall Tree Sale scheduled for Sat. Oct. 13 at Tufton Farm.
CATS Spring Tree Sale.
After a week of threatened rain, the sun came out on a beautiful day at the CATS Spring Tree Sale at IX Art Park on Sat. May 5 from 10 – 2:00.
Our volunteers helped prospective customers select the best tree for the right place in their environment, answering lots of questions and giving advice. Happily, 313 trees and shrubs found their way into the canopy of Charlottesville after this great event.
