THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT FOUNDATION®

The 2010 Spring Meeting of the Georgia Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation was held on a wet and at-times stormy Saturday in beautiful Callaway Gardens, Georgia. 

 

In a nutshell (!), we have a lot to do: First, the upcoming pollination season is shaping up to be very intense--but with Pollination Coordinator Ronnie Camp at the helm, we are anticipating as smooth and successful a season as we experienced last year.  Dr. Cipollini explained how we are moving towards our goal of 20 distinct family lines (we're not quite halfway there) and the pressing need we are facing finding places to grow the nuts we have produced and the many we will produce in the future.  Carolyn Hill reported that the National Chapter is now assisting local chapters spread the word with their new webpage and magazine programs, which segwayed into Tim Chesnut's laundry list of projects and volunteer opportunities in the exciting field of Georgia chestnut chapter public relations from signs at state parks to new displays to speaking or display venues....

 

Additionally, we got to formally meet Courtney Holt, Conservation Biologist the Callaway Preserve (thank you SO much for your hospitality!!!), and the TACF's new Southern Coordinator, William White--who will have the enviable job of working not only very closely with Fred Hebard at Meadowview but also with us!

 

Welcome to our newest Berry College intern, Erin Coughlin!  She has some might big shoes to fill and no doubt will continue the stellar work of interns past! 

 

Among the attendees at the meeting was Carroll Johnson and his family from all the way down in Tifton! Not only did he have a wonderful chestnut story to tell spanning 70 years of his family camping in the Smokies at the same campground and watching the chestnuts decline, but his young daughter, Anna, is creating her own chestnut story by way of her 4-H project presentation on the American chestnut blight, plight and fight.  Her supremely unique presentation placed high enough in the regionals to allow her to attend the state finals in July in Atlanta!   We plan to stay in touch with the Johnsons and will assist them in any way we can, and Anna and her project will be featured not only in our newsletter in the fall, but we will also make sure it gets national attention! 

 

We elected and acclaimed our new board members, filling all thirteen positions, had lunch and hoped the rain would relent long enough to have a tour of the Callaway orchard (no such luck).  So we then broke ranks, redispersing ourselves to the four corners of Georgia ready to tackle and conquer the challenges laid before us!

  

Thanks to everyone who attended and to our new members!  We promise to keep you and everyone apprised and updated on events and opportunities here on our webpage. And as we decided, the Georgia Sprout Newsletter will continue to be published twice yearly...

and if we get a few more members, we will be able to qualify for bulk rates, saving us a great deal on postage!

 

SO!  Spread the word, get more folks signed up!  Contact Joe, Tim, Ronnie, Marty or any board member to get motivated, active or marching orders!  Let us know of PR opportunities (garden clubs, civic groups, etc..! )

 
Tim