Tuesday, September 30, 2025

America's Great Lost Tree Is Finally Returning


Once towering over eastern U.S. forests, billions of American chestnut trees nourished ecosystems, built homes, and sustained Appalachian communities. But in the early 1900s, a foreign fungus arrived, and within decades, nearly all of them were gone. 

However, the species never fully vanished. Its roots still survive underground, sending up sprouts that grow, die, and regrow in an endless cycle. These trees are biologically alive, but with most never reaching maturity, they remain functionally extinct. 

In the forests of Pennsylvania, Shane Campbell-Staton joins Sara Fern Fitzsimmons from The American Chestnut Foundation to track this tree’s strange afterlife and learn the science behind its potential revival. With the help of rare surviving trees, selective breeding, and even gene editing, scientists and volunteers are working to breed blight-resistant trees.

The chestnut’s comeback will take time. But researchers are making steady progress towards developing American chestnut trees that survive and thrive in the native range they formerly dominated.

Ethan Shaw
(707)-621-0989

331 NW 26th Street
Corvallis, OR 97330

Email
agrsocialchair@gmail.com


Friday, September 26, 2025

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Saturday, September 20, 2025

Emotional Intelligence: The #1 ability for leaders | Daniel Goleman


Emotional intelligence expert Daniel Goleman explains why EQ is crucial for leadership success and how it can be developed at any age. In this talk, he covers the four domains of emotional intelligence—self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management—and their impact on leadership effectiveness and team dynamics.

Ethan Shaw
(707)-621-0989

331 NW 26th Street
Corvallis, OR 97330

Email
agrsocialchair@gmail.com


Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Sunday, September 14, 2025

Meet Our People

Alpha Gamma Rho is the fraternity sharing a common bond within a dynamic, global agriculture committed to fostering the highest values and providing each and every brother with superior lifelong personal development and professional success.

Ethan Shaw
(707)-621-0989

331 NW 26th Street
Corvallis, OR 97330

Email
agrsocialchair@gmail.com



Thursday, September 11, 2025

New Lemur Discovery


The explosion of new lemur species that began when the first of those animals arrived on Madagascar more than 50 million years ago has not died down, according to scientists who’ve identified three different groups of lemurs with high speciation rates.

The research led by Katie Everson of Oregon State University provides evidence that lemurs continue to defy the evolutionary principle that says rapid species expansion is followed by a slowdown. Published in Nature Communications and funded by the National Science Foundation, the study sheds new light on a primate under extreme extinction pressure.

Ethan Shaw
(707)-621-0989

331 NW 26th Street
Corvallis, OR 97330

Email
agrsocialchair@gmail.com

America's Great Lost Tree Is Finally Returning

Once towering over eastern U.S. forests, billions of American chestnut trees nourished ecosystems, built homes, and sustained Appalachian co...