08
May
2021
PNW Passport
Zoom Meeting
BC
Canada

The Lost Apple Project is a nonprofit organization that searches abandoned farms and orchards in the Pacific Northwest to locate apple varieties that have been thought to be lost or extinct. At one time, there were approximately 17,000 named varieties of domesticated apples in the United States, but only about 4,500 are known to exist today.


The Lost Apple project was founded by E.J. Brandt and David Benscoter, who work closely with the Temperate Orchard Conservancy in Oregon which identifies the specimens that Brandt and Benscoter collect. 

Brandt and Benscoter rely on old county fair records, newspaper clippings, and nursery sales ledgers, as well as tips from people, to find likely places to search for old trees.

They collect apple specimens in the fall, then return in the winter to gather wood cuttings for grafting.


As of April 2020, the project has discovered 23 lost apple varieties. Some of the lost apple varieties that the project has found in Washington and Idaho include the Streaked Pippin, the Sary Sinap, and the NeroNero, which was discovered at Steptoe Buttte, was the first old apple variety found by Benscoter.

Benscoter, who retired in 2006 after a career as an FBI agent and an IRS criminal investigator, pursues leads on lost apples with the same zeal he applied to his criminal cases.