What to look for? When the blight came through killing most chestnut trees within our woods, the trees only died from the ground level and up. The root systems often remain alive and when some sort of disturbance occurs in the forest - timber harvest, windthrow, fire, etc. - once light hits the forest floor, this encourages the existing root systems to send up sprouts. Occasionally, these sprouts will get large enough to begin producing flowers.
Around this time of year (end of May/beginning of June), chestnut trees with male flowers (catkins) can often be spotted even from a distance as the catkins mature and develop their whitish color. Perhaps you will come across something like this:
Sometimes, the sprouts are so small that they are not yet flowering. These can be managed on-site to flowering or can be relocated to an orchard where they can be cared for (water, light, fertilizer, etc.) and encouraged to flower. The KY Chapter hopes to continue efforts in creating Germplasm Conservation Orchards from these native Kentucky sources.
If you think you have found an American chestnut tree, you can submit your information via the Treesnap App that is available for mobile phones. You can also contact the Kentucky chapter by sending an email to Chapter President, Rick Caldwell, at rcaldwell@bernheim.org or submit information through the tree reporting process with TACF found here: https://www.acf.org/resources/identification/
Head on out into the woods and find some American chestnut trees!
