APPALACHIAN TRAIL ADVENTURE MINI GrantS

Forest Health & Tree Resilience: American Beech & ButternutTREES

Help Protect AT Forests With Your Hike

Apply for a $400 Adventure Mini Grant to go on an adventure and participate in the Forest Health & Tree Disease Program. You will play a key role in connecting the volunteer experience with the broader storytelling that inspires action. You will help share the excitement, discoveries, and impact of the Saving American Beech & Restoring Butternut Trees projects through authentic, engaging content from the field that shows the power of combining adventure and science.

 Only approved project participants are eligible to apply for an Adventure Mini Grant. If you haven’t applied for a project yet, start here.

About Adventure Scientists

Adventure Scientists is the trusted source for the hard-to-gather field data that advances conservation solutions. By mobilizing the outdoor community to gather data from the natural world, we provide conservation partners with the data they need to tackle critical environmental challenges.

We mobilize outdoor enthusiasts to gather high-quality environmental data often from the world’s most remote and threatened places — data that would otherwise be impossible or too expensive to obtain. This approach accelerates research, enabling scientists to develop impactful conservation and climate solutions.

Project Overview

The Saving American Beech & Restoring Butternut Trees for Forest Health Projects are wide-scale, forest health and resilience projects in partnership with Adventure Scientists, the University of Connecticut, Purdue University, and Morton Arboretum with the United States Forest Service as a data end user. This innovative research includes locating healthy beech trees or remaining butternut trees, assessing their health, and collecting leaf samples from trees that may hold disease-resistant genetics while on your trips and hikes.  Finding and studying diseased and disease-resistant trees is critical to restoring them. This important work is crucial for restoration and reforestation efforts.

See the projects’ websites: HERE

Next Steps:

    1. Sign-up for the Project. The Adventure Scientists team with review your application and, if approved, you will receive an email.
    2. If approved, apply for the Adventure Mini Grant. Only approved project participants are eligible to receive an Adventure Mini Grant.
    3. Complete the training and participate in the project, collecting content while meeting project objects.
    4. Our goal is that you will create one 90-second video and share 10-20 photos about your adventure and participation in the project, and write a short 300 to 1,000-word article about your experience. These may be shared via Adventure Scientists and partner organization publications via social media, blog, email, and/or member newsletter

Butternut trees are a naturally rare, endangered species that support wildlife and contribute to ecosystem diversity, but populations have declined drastically due to a lethal disease: butternut canker. Most remaining trees are infected, but a small number are somehow still thriving. Finding and studying these disease-resistant trees is critical to restoring them. That’s why the Morton Arboretum and Purdue University have partnered with Adventure Scientists for a butternut blitz, locating and collecting leaf samples from potential disease-resistant trees. This important work is crucial for the US Forest Service’s reforestation efforts.

Where Will You Take Part in This Project:

Explore the map below to see where the Beech and Butternut projects take place, including areas where the two projects overlap. This can help you plan your trip and identify zones that fit your adventures.

Get Involved

Ready to put your adventure to work for science?

Apply for a Forest Resilience Project and help collect the data needed to preserve our forests. Once approved, you’ll be eligible to apply for an Adventure Mini Grant.

Already approved? Apply for an Adventure Mini Grant now!

Adventure Mini Grant Application

Adventure Mini Grant Application

To apply for the mini grant, please sign up for a project first. You may sign up for a project above.
Look up my Volunteer ID.
All candidates must complete the project training to be eligible for the grant.
Application