Last Update: 08/26/2023
2014 - Bryan & Lisa Burhans
Additional Information
Bryan J. Burhans, B.S., M.S.
President & CEO, The American Chestnut Foundation
Bryan received an Associate of Science degree in Wildlife Technology and a B.S. degree in Wildlife Science from The Pennsylvania State University. Bryan received his M.S. degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from Frostburg State University working out of the University of Maryland’s Appalachian Environmental Laboratory in Frostburg, MD. He worked as a Wildlife Biologist for the Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries for 2 years and, after receiving his M.S. degree, he served as Wildlife Biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for two years. Then, in 1997, he went to work for the National Wild Turkey Federation in Edgefield, SC, as the Director of Land Management Programs working throughout the US, Canada and Mexico. Bryan has experience working with a very large chapter-based organization and has developed extensive partnerships with corporations and state and federal agency partners. Bryan is a certified wildlife biologist through The Wildlife Society.
Bryan joined The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) as President and CEO in 2009 following a twelve-year position as Director of Land Management Programs for the National Wild Turkey Federation in Edgefield, SC. He is based out of the TACF home office in Asheville, NC. In his position with NWTF, he was responsible for work throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. His experience working with a very large chapter-based organization, developing extensive partnerships with corporations and state and federal agencies, positioned him well to lead TACF. Bryan is a certified wildlife biologist through The Wildlife Society and holds an M.S. degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from Frostburg State University working out of the University of Maryland’s Appalachian Environmental Laboratory in Frostburg, MD. Bryan received his AS in Wildlife Technology and BS in Wildlife Science from The Pennsylvania State University. He has held positions with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission as a Wildlife Biologist, and with The Pennsylvania State University as an instructor in Wildlife Technology.
The goal of TACF is to restore the American chestnut tree to our eastern woodlands to benefit our environment, our wildlife, and our society. TACF is restoring a species - and in the process, creating a template for restoration of other tree and plant species.
In 2005, TACF harvested its first potentially blight-resistant chestnuts. They are now in a phase of rigorous testing and trial, in both forest and orchard settings. It is their confident expectation that one day the chestnut will be restored to our eastern forests. The return of the American chestnut to its former niche in the Appalachian hardwood forest ecosystem is a major restoration project that requires a multi-faceted effort involving 6,000 members and volunteers, research, sustained funding and most important, a sense of the past and a hope for the future.
