First Meeting of the Tennessee Chapter of
The American Chestnut Foundation
February 6, 2001
Meeting Minutes
Location:
UTK Ag Campus, Ellington Plant Sciences Building, Room 125
Attendees:
Dan Hurst, Joe Wolfe, Marcia Wasserman, Dan Douthit, Andy White,
Jeff Saunders, Bryan Schoch
Discussion:
Dan Hurst conducted the meeting. Dan gave an introduction, explaining
the history of the American Chestnut in the US, the affects of
the chestnut blight, and past efforts to develop a blight resistant
American Chestnut tree. Dan also explained the breeding program
being conducted by The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF), and
explained how we can help this effort. The mission of the TN Chapter
of TACF is to reintroduce blight resistant American Chestnut Trees
to Tennessee lands. Chapter activities will be focused in the
following areas:
1) Membership and Fundraising Our first membership goal is
to recruit 35 new members in order to be a Provisional Chapter
by May 10 when Marshal Case, TACF national president will be in
Tennessee to speak at our May 10th meeting. Our next membership
goal is to recruit additional 40 members by September 10 in order
to receive full chapter status prior to the national TAFC annual
meeting to be held in Chattanooga in October (a convenient location
for the TN Chapter). A database of TN members will be developed
to facilitate chapter communication.
2) Preservation and Breeding A priority of the TN Chapter
will be to find and database information pertaining to surviving
American Chestnut Trees in Tennessee, particularly those that
may be bearing nuts. Locating these mother trees will be critical
to ensuring that genes of TN American Chestnut trees are included
in the national breeding program for reintroduction in TN. Breeding
activities will involve pollination of American Chestnut Trees
in TN using pollen from blight-resistant hybrids according to
the breeding program of TACF. It will also be the goal of the
TN Chapter to preserve anecdotal information from individuals
who remember the American Chestnut in Tennessee prior to and during
the blight.
3) Education and Public Awareness The TN Chapter will develop
and support educational activities including displays, demonstrations,
and meetings to raise public awareness of the TACF mission in
Tennessee and to foster growth in membership and fundraising for
projects associated with the reintroduction of the American Chestnut
Tree to TN farms, forests, parks, and yards.
Significant progress in these areas will be necessary to accomplish
the TN Chapter goal of reintroducing blight resistant trees throughout
the state when they become available in as few as 10 years.
There was preliminary discussion regarding organizations that
would benefit from the realization of TACF mission in Tennessee
and might be interested in cooperating with the TN Chapter. Examples
of these organizations include:
Wildlife clubs
TWRA and the Tennessee Conservation League
TVA
Boy Scouts, School FFA Chapters and 4-H clubs
Smoky Mountain Land Conservancy
TN County extension agents
The following action items were identified from the meeting:
Recruit 35 new members by May 10th. All present will
be involved in this recruitment.
Develop a charter. Doug Campbell, a local attorney and
chapter member will assist with the review of the charter prepared
last year by the MA Chapter. Changes will be made as necessitated
by Tennessee Law and the draft TN charter will be presented for
review.
Draft a strategic plan focused on activities that must
be accomplished in 2001 to reach full chapter status by September
10th. The goal of this strategic plan will be to focus the apparent
energy and desire of the TN membership toward locating mother
trees in TN and beginning a TN pollination program. Dan Hurst
will initiate this activity.
The next 3 meetings were set for the following dates:
March 6th 6:30 PM at the Village Green Clubhouse in West Knoxville
(Directions below)
Speaker - Dr. Hill Craddock, Chairman of TACF Science Cabinet
Dr. Craddock is the Robert M. Davenport Assistant Professor of
Biology at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. Dr. Craddock's
research is focused on the restoration of the American chestnut
(Castanea dentata) to the Appalachian hardwood forest ecosystem
and the establishment of a commercial chestnut industry in Tennessee.
Project areas include: breeding for blight resistance and gall
wasp resistance, genome analysis using molecular markers, investigations
on the physiology and ecology of hypovirulence, and germplasm
collection and evaluation. Other areas of interest include the
role of mycorrhizal fungi in adventitious root formation and the
rooting of cuttings. Dr. Craddock will present an overview of
his work and the work of TACF.
April 3rd 6:30 PM at the Village Green Clubhouse in West Knoxville
May 10th TBD, Speaker Marshal Case, National President TACF