[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/EW-11-06-12-Chestnuts.mp3|titles=EW 11-06-12 Chestnuts]
The tall, stately American chestnut once dominated our eastern forests. Sturdy wood from chestnuts was used for furniture, floors, and telephone poles, and its prolific nuts were a favorite food for people and wildlife.
Our mighty chestnuts were felled by the chestnut blight, a fungus that came from Asia with imports of Chinese chestnut. The blight killed 3 billion trees from Maine to Mississippi early in the 20th century.
It’s a familiar story, and one that is playing out today with the Emerald Ash Borer, the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, the Gypsy moth, and other exotic invaders. Trees in their host countries have developed resistance to these diseases and bugs, but our American trees have not. This makes them vulnerable to rapid destruction.
But there is good news on the chestnut front—attempts are being made to resurrect the species. Scientists with the American Chestnut Foundation are cross-breeding surviving American chestnuts with the smaller, blight-resistant Chinese variety. They are close to attaining their goal of a hybrid that is as tall as the American chestnut but with disease-fighting traits of the Chinese species.
It’s doubtful that chestnut trees will once again dominate our forests. But it is possible that the species will thrive in managed stands on the East Coast once again.
And techniques being developed to bring back the American chestnut may be of use in the battle against newer invasive species that threaten our forests.
Web Link
American Chestnut Foundation
Photo, taken on January 16, 2011, courtesy of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources via Flickr.