Retired agent Dave Benscoter finds 30 apple varieties once thought extinct
Dave Benscoter has found 30 apple varieties once thought extinct. The retired federal law enforcement agent began hunting old orchard trees in 2012, after learning eastern Washington once grew varieties now considered lost. He searched Whitman County first. The search later expanded into Oregon and Idaho. Together with the Whitman County Historical Society, he started the Lost Apple Project, mapping old orchards with community help and grafting scion wood so each variety survives. Benscoter described the work to host Erin Hoover on episode 61 of The Evergreen Thumb.
Gardeners and the public across the Pacific Northwest can now conserve and share heritage apples that had faded from memory.
Source: Rediscovering Lost Apples of the Pacific Northwest (evergreenthumb.mastergardenerfoundation.org).
Written by the HappyGood desk from the primary source linked above and checked against it. Every story links its source. Corrections: [email protected].
More from the archive
- Bringing back the American chestnut: four approaches to a forest giant's return October 14, 2026
- 5 search and rescue teams, RCMP find stranded person in canyon above Penticton October 14, 2026
- Mackenzie Macdonald, 16, heads to the Youth Olympics for Australia in taekwondo October 13, 2026
- Parksville festival volunteers help deliver record $89,270 donation October 12, 2026
- Police fetch antivenom as three Blue Mountains rescues unfold in a day October 12, 2026