The American Chestnut Foundation was also only recently told about the tree's existence.

But if the American Chestnut Foundation succeeds in breeding blight-resistant trees, native nuts will be much more common - not next year, but maybe next decade.

The American Chestnut Foundation recommends waiting a little while more before large-scale planting.

The American Chestnut Foundation is developing blight-resistant trees of the American chestnut (Castanea dentata) at its experimental farms near Meadowview.

In the acknowledgments Kingsolver thanks her Virginia friends and neighbors, as well as Fred Herbard of the American Chestnut Foundation.

In the late 1800's, according to the American Chestnut Foundation, a squirrel could have traveled from Maine to Georgia without ever leaving the branches of a chestnut tree.

It costs $40 to join the American Chestnut Foundation (P.O. Box 4044, Bennington, Vt. 05201; 802-447-0110).

Dr. Bergdahl said there was no advocacy organization similar to the American Chestnut Foundation focusing on protecting butternuts, but he said he was interested in starting one.

Members of the American Chestnut Foundation will supply seedlings and help the children plant them as replacements for the species that was decimated by a 20th century blight.

It serves as a planting site for The American Chestnut Foundation.