Everyone's Invited To Participate! No Training Required, But Learning Encouraged!

TACF has kicked off its 25th anniversary year with a seven-month hike along the Appalachian Trail for its members and for the general public.  Participants are invited to learn to identify surviving American chestnut trees along the trail by using tree identification resources at www.vatacf.org/treeid.html.  By hiking as much of the Appalachian Trail as possible before TACF’s annual meeting in October, we will bring attention to the importance of restoring the American chestnut tree to its native forests.

The TACF 25th Anniversary celebration  began March 1 at Amicolola State Park and will end in Chattanooga, Tennessee at TACF’s 25th annual meeting October 25-26, 2008. Virginians are especially invited to participate in one of two 25th Anniversary celebration events in our area:  May  17th and 18th at Trail Days in Damascus, Virginia and June 7th on National Trails Day at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia

Groups and individuals are also invited to participate by hiking a mile or more on a portion of the 550 miles of Appalachian Trail in Virginia anytime before October 25.  The more groups that hike the trail, the more attention is brought to the plight of the American chestnut and the efforts to restore the tree to its Appalachian habitat. 

If you let us know that your group is participating, we will provide “Hike A Mile” stickers, pocket chestnut identification guides and 25th Anniversary commemorative tokens for each hiker. We will also provide a password so that you can add your miles to the total on the TACF web site: www.acf.org. We would appreciate your sending a photo of your group on the trail for our 25th anniversary photo gallery.

Contact the Virginia Chapter for more information.