[MassChestnutOrchards] Granville ACF orchard news

[John Meiklejohn]

Jamie & John Mirick:

Re:  developing a conservation easement for the Granville ACF orchard

I was glad to see John has started the process of developing a template for easement agreements.  He and I had talked at past mtgs about collaborating on this but we had not actively connected on it.

Here is the status on my end for developing an easement agreement for the Granville orchard.  With help from a friend I am slowly clearing the trees and brush from the remainder of the current fenced orchard area to create a space that will be about 3/4 of an acre.  My understanding is that for BC3F2 orchards we want a minimum of 3/4 acre plots [please confirm that I'm correct here].  Once the new area is cleared the plantable area within the fence will be .70 to .75 of an acre based on my recent rough measurement.  If this is too small for a BC3F2 orchard plot then I need to know and will stop the work of expanding this plot.  Also, if the plot is not large enough for the next generation then there is little reason to create an easement unless we want to protect the 5-10 BC3 trees that will hopefully survive the innoculation process. [This BC3 orchard should be ready for innoculation next year.]

Since I'm determined to use a portion of our land for a TACF-MA BC3F2 plot I've measured another field that is at least .75 of an acre.  That too will take a bit of clean up to be ready for planting.  It is not fenced but could be. 

I'd prefer to use the first field for the conservation easement with TACF-MA because it is set to one side of our main acreage and it already has drip irrigation installed.

Could one of you or Charlotte or Fred confirm for me that the plots for BC3F2 nuts must be of a certain minimum size.  Before I proceed with John on the conservation easement I want to be certain that I have chosen an appropriate area for the easement and for the next generation planting.

On a different subject, I went up to the Granville State Forest last weekend to check on the Am. Chestnut that the State Forester had informed us about.  The tree is about 8"dbh, shows no signs of disease on the main trunk, possible disease presence on an upper branch, and about 20-30 burrs.  It would be accessible to a smallish bucket truck in dryer weather.  It's about 50 ft down a woods road off a main road through the Granville SF.

John Meiklejohn
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