What the American Chestnut Teaches Us About Forest Health

Once a defining tree of eastern North American forests, the American chestnut has a history that reaches across continents–and a future still being written. Michael Goergen, President and CEO of The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF), will trace the tree’s rise and decline, share what decades of restoration work have taught us, and explain where TACF is headed. He will introduce recurrent genomic selection, an approach that helps breeders make progress on several traits at once: resistance to disease, growth, adaptation, and the ability to thrive in a changing forest. This program is sponsored by the New Canaan Land Trust.