The Appalachian Trail MEGA - Transect Project: A Citizen Science Approach to Studying Distribution of American Chestnut

Long Term Goals: 1. To understand the ecology and spatial pattern of surviving American chestnut 2. To identify American chestnut survivors with potential to enhance the TACF backcross breeding program 3. To inform future TACFefforts to restore American chestnut throughout its native range in the eastern forests of the United States. Short Term Goals: 1. To develop a high resolution, landmark referenced Appalachian Trail (A.T.) centerline data layer 2. To stratify and prioritize sampling areas along the A.T. MEGA-transect 3. To enable data collection to continue during 2009 with a focus on evaluating and enhancing data reliability.