MONMOUTH – The Maine Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation annual meeting will take place at 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13.

The meeting will begin with a tour of the chestnut breeding orchard at the University of Maine’s Highmoor Farm where the Maine Chapter has planted 1,400 hybrid American chestnuts. The trees are part of a breeding program that will culminate in a blight-resistant tree in about 10 years.

A buffet dinner and silent auction at Marco’s Restaurant in Lewiston will follow at 5:30 p.m. Four short presentations will round out the meeting.

Dr. Fred Paillet, adjunct professor at UMO, will discuss the chestnut’s history in the state; Jim Wescott, president of the Maine Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, will describe the value of the American Chestnut as souce of food for wildlife; Welles Thurber, co-founder of the Maine chestnut chapter, will present his perspective on the return of the “King of the Forest”; and Russell Read of Brooks will describe his mixed hardwood reforestation project that includes American chestnuts.

For more information and directions, call Eric Evans in Camden, 236-9635, or visit www.me.acf.org under annual meeting.