My Chinquapin Dulcimer Adventure
By AJ Hendershott
OCF board member and gifted craftsman AJ Hendershott was inspired to build mountain dulcimers made of Ozark chinquapin wood. He’s hopeful the revival of the Ozark chinquapin tree will signal a new era of woodworking and crafting with the highly prized wood. In this article he gives a step by step describing the process:
About Ozark Chinquapin
Background and history
The Ozark Chinquapin (Castanea ozarkensis) is a drought tolerant hardwood tree that inhabited the rocky upper slopes and ridge tops of the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains
Genetic Resistance Breeding Program –New!
Learn about how we are developing blight resistant Ozark chinquapin through traditional breeding methods
This presentation was delivered at our 2019 Annual Meeting by Leslie Bost
Wildlife Videos & Pictures
The Ozark chinquapin is an important tree for wildlife. Take a look at videos and pictures captured at our planting sites
Blight Resistance Testing Results –New!
Very Exciting News
This spring we finished screening the trees on our research plots to evaluate their resistance to chestnut blight. Results show that through our genetic breeding program we've produced Ozark chinquapin with blight resistance
Native Range of the Ozark Chinquapin
Information about historical location of the trees before and after the arrival of the bight
Updated range map showing the native range of Castanea ozarkensis
Identify Ozark Chinquapin
Leaf morphology, growth form, and distinct characteristics of Ozark chinquapin trees
LEARNING LINKS –Updated!
Your number one resource for information about the Ozark chinquapin
annual Membership
Join or renew Annual Seed Membershp
If you want to help us you can get involved by becoming a member. Every year we ship members seed taken from trees on our tests plots showing levels of blight resistance.
Chinquapin Library –Updated!
Newspaper articles from 1887-1970 talking about the trees
An interesting glimpse into the cultural and economic significance of the Ozark chinquapin tree
Our Mission & Vision
The Ozark Chinquapin Foundation (OCF) is a non-profit organization of outdoors-men and women with a vision of restoring the Ozark Chinquapin to its historic native range. Through our efforts, and those of hundreds of volunteers over the last decade, we are attempting to establish a viable seed base through research and the manual cross-pollination of surviving trees. Our goal is to develop a 100 % pure Ozark Chinquapin that is blight resistant, and distribute the seeds to everyone interested in helping.
Join The Ozark Chinquapin Foundation
If you are interested in joining our efforts and obtaining seed, we welcome your help and support! Membership in the Ozark Chinquapin Foundation is $30.00 per year. If you would like to give a donation with your annual membership you can do that typing in a custom amount or choosing one of the options on the form.
Seed from the Ozark Chinquapin are still very rare and seed with resistance even rarer. However, every year we are able to ship seed with better resistance than the year before. Every year we mail our annual members seed collected from our research test plots. There is no guarantee these seed are blight resistant. However, the parent trees these seed were collected from are large (11″ – 21″ Dia.) 100% pure Ozark Chinquapin trees that exhibit varying levels of resistance.
Members will have their seed shipped in January-March 2020 in order of membership received. With your membership you get 3-5 rare seed depending on availability, growing instructions, updates on restoration progress and the first opportunity at resistant seed as they become available from research test plots.
Thank You for your help and support!
New Updates!