Tom Klak Contributed photo

The Kennebec Estuary Land Trust invites the public to learn about the efforts to restore the American Chestnut. Tom Klak will discuss seven major points about American chestnut restoration projects in Maine during a live webinar on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 6 p.m.

Klak is a professor in the School of Marine and Environmental Programs at the University of New England and the vice president and chairperson of Gene Conservation at The American Chestnut Foundation’s Maine Chapter.

Klak will discuss the American chestnut’s historical importance, how a fungal blight wiped chestnuts out, building blight-tolerance through transgenics, the importance of rescuing native genetic diversity from remaining wild trees, UNE’s approach to breeding chestnuts and Maine’s first blight-tolerant American chestnut trees created this summer.

According to the land trust, pne of the important chestnut orchards for gene conservation is at the Schoener Forest near Georgetown.

Participants will receive a Zoom link to the web-based lecture following their registration and again before the event. For more information or to register, visit https://www.kennebecestuary.org/upcoming-events/2020/10/7/restoring-the-american-chestnut-through-biotechnology or call (207)442-8400. Attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions in the registration link and the chat box during the meeting.