The American Chestnut

Join John Caruso, a TACF board member, Kathy Caruso and Mason Kyle, local Eagle Scout, for an informative program exploring the story of the American chestnut tree. This presentation will cover the tree’s rich history, the remarkable qualities of its wood, the devastating impact of the chestnut blight, and the ongoing efforts to restore this iconic species to eastern forests. Guests will also learn about TACF’s current Recurrent Genomic Selection program, an important step in introducing meaningful blight tolerance back into the American chestnut population. As part of our Ohio 250 BioBlitz celebration, the program will conclude with a short guided hike to view chestnut trees in the area.
Hike begins at 2:00 PM and the presentation will begin at 3:00 PM.
Speaker Bios:
John Caruso
John Caruso is a retired NASA engineer whose career spanned multiple spaceflight hardware programs. As a project manager, he oversaw several hardware packages that ultimately flew in space. He concluded his NASA career working on technologies to extract oxygen from lunar regolith and on rover systems designed to transport regolith to construction sites and processing facilities on the Moon.
John has always had a deep interest in trees. More than 30 years ago, he attempted to grow chestnuts on his own property, though with limited success. In 2019, he discovered The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF), became a member, and began growing trees in earnest.
Since then, John has gathered seeds from Ohio orchards, worked with parks and private landowners to establish new plantings, and helped expand public awareness of the American chestnut. His recent work includes pollinating mature 60–80 ft native trees and collecting their seeds. He has also collected scion wood from surviving native chestnuts; scientists at Penn State successfully grafted and sprouted eight trees from this material.
John continues to collaborate with the public and with TACF to plant pure American chestnuts, hybrid trees, and advanced backcross B3F3 trees, contributing to the long-term effort to restore this iconic species to our eastern forests.
Mason Kyle
Mason Kyle, an Eagle Scout, is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree at Ohio University. His interest in the American chestnut began in high school during a leaf‑collection project, when he became determined to track down an American chestnut leaf. That search sparked a deeper fascination with the species and its restoration.
Mason has since led multiple Scouting American units in multiple projects focused on planting and pollinating chestnut trees in Northeast Ohio. He established an orchard at Mosquito Lake and has successfully pollinated and propagated the B3F3 trees growing in the park.