1	Establishment of a Backcross Chestnut Orchard Clark Cropper
2	Chestnut Blight Prior to the 20^th Century forests ranging from Massachusetts southwest to Northern Georgia were populated by American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) A blight was introduced around the turn of the century (Cryphonectria parasitica) By 1950 the fungus had killed almost all American Chestnut trees (possibly 4 billion trees)
3	American Chestnut Foundation In the early years of the blight, breeding programs were attempted by the US Dept. of Agriculture & the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment station They attempted to breed resistance to blight, but these programs were essentially discontinued by 1960 In 1983 The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) was formed “to restore the American chestnut as an integral part of the eastern forest ecosystem”
4	Backcross Program TACF uses the backcross breeding method to transfer the blight resistance of the Chinese chestnut to surviving American trees Several backcross generations are required A different American parent tree is used at each backcross, so each 3^rd generation tree is the product of 4 American parents, and is called a “line” Each generation is exposed to the blight to ensure resistance is maintained
5	Backcross Program The current phase of work is to produce many lines (at least 20) of moderately blight resistant trees at least fifteen-sixteenth American The final step would be to intercross these lines to produce highly blight resistant trees which could then repopulate our forests
6	TN-TACF State chapters work to establish new orchards and locate surviving trees to serve as parents The Tennessee Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation (TN-TACF) was organized in 2001. TN-TACF depends on volunteers to set aside land for an a orchard and plant and tend orchards where the backcross trees are grown So far, there are 6 orchards in Tennessee with hundreds of trees
7	New Orchard In 2006 I was invited to attend a chapter meeting of TN-TACF At about the same time I inherited a small family farm, so I committed a small plot to become an orchard
8	Orchard Location
9	Planted 2 Trees May 2006
10	Site Characteristics Elevation 830 ft Southwest facing slope Slopes about 12% Upper Fort Payne Soil is cherty silt loam
11	Site Preparation May 2007
12	Spacing
13	Planting & Tubes
14	Watering
15	Finished Orchard
16	Planted Two Lines & Controls
17	Orchard Design
18	Growth after 8 Weeks
19	Deer Pressure
20	Deer Pressure After 6 weeks some trees had grown out of the 2ft tree tubes I began putting wire cages around trees as they grew above tubes By 12 weeks 17 trees had overgrown their tubes
21	Deer Protection
22	Drought
23	Survival after 23 Weeks
24	Future We plan to plant another 100 trees next spring from new lines, and if all goes well another 100 trees the next year After their 3^rd year of growth the trees will be inoculated with the blight fungus Trees lacking resistance will be destroyed, but trees showing resistance will be used to advance the breeding program
25	"Joe Schibig" Joe Schibig Hill Craddock Nick Yorlano TN TACF
26	"Background info sources were" Background info sources were: The American Chestnut Foundation web site: www.acf.org The TN-TACF web site: www2.volstate.edu/tnchestnut Hebard, F.V. 2005 “The Backcross Breeding Program of the American Chestnut Foundation” In proc. Of conf. on restoration of American chestnut to forest lands. Steiner, K.C. and J.E. Carlson (eds.).