From 2014: Passionate Couple, USDA, Team up for 'Miracle:' Bringing Back the American Chestnut

February 14, 2014 at 3:30 PM

"It was on a hilltop in eastern Kentucky where I first met James and Gail Cope, looking at the 27 newly planted American chestnut seedlings on their land. It was our common love for this rare tree that brought us together.

"American chestnut trees once dominated the Appalachian landscape, but during the early 1900s a fungus struck the trees causing them nearly to vanish. The American Chestnut Blight, an Asian fungus, first struck in 1904 in New York City and quickly spread, leaving in its wake a trail of dead and dying stems. By the 1950s, the keystone species of some nine million acres of forests had disappeared.

"The tree is important because it produces bushels of nuts for wildlife, and animals like squirrels, wild turkey, white-tailed deer, black bear, and grouse depend on the nuts for a major food source.

"The tree also has a history tied intimately with an earlier America. Commonly referred to as the 'redwood of the East,' the American chestnut tree was used to build cabins and fences and feed hogs.

"Through a Conservation Innovation Grant from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Cope family is working with the American Chestnut Foundation to plant the trees and study how to reforest them successfully.

"This month, USDA is highlighting innovative agricultural and conservation efforts, and NRCS is currently accepting grant proposals.

"The grant of $500,000 from NRCS has enabled the foundation to create research orchards, like the one on the Copes’ land. The forests consist of chestnuts, northern red oaks and white pines, and the goal is to find ways to out compete the white pines.

The American Chestnut Foundation was founded in 1983 by a group of plant scientists who recognized the severe impact the demise of the American chestnut tree had on communities, forests and wildlife.

"The foundation started #crossbreeding American chestnut trees with #ChineseChestnutTrees, which are naturally resistant to the blight. Once a half American-half Chinese tree was created, it was then crossbred with an American, resulting in a 75 percent American chestnut tree. These trees don’t have any Chinese characteristics, except for a resistance to the blight.

"As a part of this grant program, the group or individual awarded the grant must work with farmers, ranchers and forest landowners. In this case, they worked with the Cope family to study and monitor chestnut growth.

"The Copes’ enthusiasm made them a great candidate. Actually, James Cope still has the froe, a cutting tool, his grandparents used to split chestnut shake shingles and rails for split rail fences.

"We’re excited and hopeful about the work underway at the Copes’ land. One of the things I most love about my country is that even in the bleakest of circumstances, there is always room for a miracle. For me, one of those miracles is the 27 tiny American chestnuts struggling on a hillside in eastern #Kentucky."

https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/blog/passionate-couple-usda-team-miracle-bringing-back-american-chestnut

#SolarPunkSunday #Trees #SaveTheForests #SaveTheTrees #CastaneaDentata #AmericanChestnuts #AmericanChestnutTree #ChestnutTrees #ChestnutBlight

Holiday revelation: Wild #AmericanChestnuts thriving on biologist’s land in #Maine

21 December 2025

"A documentary-style environmental investigation reveals a remarkable and little-known success story: thousands of wild, healthy American chestnut trees flourishing on the Maine forest land of renowned biologist and author Dr #BerndHeinrich. Their vigorous natural growth—and possible blight resistance—directly counters long-held beliefs that the iconic species survives today only as scattered, doomed sprouts.

"Dr Heinrich, professor emeritus of the Biology Department at the #UniversityOfVermont and author of more than 20 books on biology, including the celebrated memoir A Year in the Maine Woods, has spent more than four decades observing the chestnuts on his hundreds of acres. Dr Heinrich has also authored over 100 scientific papers.

"In 1982 Heinrich planted wild American chestnut seedlings on his land. Since then, blue jays and squirrels have spread the trees widely across the forest. Working with University of Vermont students, he has documented well over a thousand thriving chestnut trees—some now representing three generations of natural regeneration. Each has been GPS-mapped through long-term field study.

"The Wild American Chestnut, a new film, produced by Global Justice Ecology Project (GJEP), captures Heinrich guiding viewers through this extraordinary landscape. The film discusses projections that the American chestnut is shifting its range northward due to climate change, opening new opportunities for survival beyond its historical geographic limits.

" 'This film presents some good news about the wild American chestnut and is a stark contrast to claims by some researchers that genetically engineered trees are the only path to restoration,' said Anne Petermann, Executive Director of GJEP. 'It was stunning to see so many robust trees—three full generations growing naturally—when the efforts to engineer blight-resistant chestnuts have produced nothing but failures.'

"This discovery unfolds against the backdrop of major setbacks for biotech-based restoration strategies. In December 2023, The American Chestnut Foundation withdrew its support for a genetically engineered chestnut that was decades in development, after multiple documented research errors revealed the tree to be genetically defective.

"The investigation filmed on Heinrich’s land provides a powerful counter-narrative: wild American chestnuts may already be mounting an unexpected comeback—quietly, naturally, and without genetic engineering."

Source:
https://gmwatch.org/en/106-news/latest-news/20625-holiday-revelation-wild-american-chestnuts-thriving-on-biologist-s-land-in-maine

To learn more about the film: TheWildAmericanChestnut.org

Or view the film on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebywGe-J730&feature=youtu.be

#SolarPunkSunday #Trees #SaveTheForests #SaveTheTrees #AmericanChestnutTree #ChestnutTrees #CastaneaDentata

So, attempts to create a blight-resistant #AmericanChestnutTree using wheat genes failed (gee, I wonder why)... However, cross-pollination (by hand) between American and Chinese #ChestnutTrees (the Chinese ones are resistant to blight) worked!!! Sometimes tried-and-true "old fashioned" tech is the best tech!

The fight for a fallen giant: Bringing back the American #chestnut

by N.C. Forest Service | May 3, 2024

"More than a century ago, the American chestnut (#CastaneaDentata) was a common overstory tree across portions of eastern North American forests. These giants thrived on moist, well drained slopes and ridges across the Appalachians, towering more than 100 feet tall with an average diameter at breast height (DBH) of five to eight feet. Their historical range extended into the southeastern deciduous forests of Canada and as far south as Florida.

"According to legend, American chestnut trees were once so abundant in eastern North America that a squirrel could travel the chestnut canopy from Georgia to Maine without ever touching the ground. However, fossil pollen records and early forest inventory records suggest the American chestnut may not have been as dominant a tree species across its entire range as depicted. Early forest inventories conducted by Emma Lucy Braun, a prominent forest ecologist and botanist, suggest the species was of surprisingly limited dominance in many parts across the Appalachians, except for the central and southern ranges.

"With their ability to rapidly sprout from stumps and reach maturity in as little as eight years, the American chestnut likely benefited from intensive logging of the past. This rapid regeneration, coupled with possible allelopathic properties that suppress competing trees, would have allowed them to quickly reclaim their place in the forest canopy following disturbance. This advantage may have been particularly significant in the northern part of their range, likely contributing to the historical accounts describing the American chestnut’s remarkable abundance across the landscape. Nonetheless, American chestnut reigned as a keystone species with immense ecological value. With its strong, rot resistant wood and abundant annual crop of nutrient dense chestnuts, the American chestnut was once an invaluable hardwood for humans and wildlife before the #ChestnutBlight decimated its populations in the early 1900s, leaving a lasting scar on eastern North American forests."

Learn more:
https://blog.ncagr.gov/2024/05/03/the-fight-for-a-fallen-giant-bringing-back-the-american-chestnut/

#SolarPunkSunday #Trees #ChestnutTrees #SaveTheForests #SaveTheTrees

Late Afternoon Walk in Montgomery Arboretum of Native Flora

https://islandinthenet.com/montgomery-arboretum-of-native-flora/