Figure 1.) A man stands in front of a mature American chestnut tree.
Photo from The American Chestnut Tree Archives
The great America chestnut tree, this tree once dominated most of eastern America, many of us know a piece of history regarding these trees weather that be due do its popular chestnuts that were a staple during the Christmas season or stories that were told about the immense size of the tree alone.
Figure 2.) A young hybrid American Chestnut Tree
Many of us also know that Due to non-existent regulatory rules at the time, imports from China carried an invasive species of fungus, that were refer to as blight, that were foreign to the American Chestnut trees and caused a rapid decline in the population of American chestnut trees. It is said that a mature American chestnut tree is currently extinct in America. Years after the near complete extinction of this tree species environmental scientist are still trying to create a blight resistant tree that they hope will be re-introduced into forest ecosystems through-out America.
Figure 3.) Shows the fence that separates the program from the rest of the park.
Currently located in Louisville, Kentucky, The American Chestnut Foundation partners with the American Fishery and wildlife division and are working on a management conservation program that includes the most advanced hybrid offspring of a cross between the American Chestnut tree and the blight resistance Chinese chestnut tree. These offspring increase the probability of blight resistance in each generation of hybridized trees.This conservation program isolates the hybrid trees in order to control the breeding of the trees and to monitor the trees overall health. Figure 3 shows the red gate and behind the red gate are the young offspring of the hybridized trees.
Unfortunately, these trees are not guaranteed to have the blight resistant trait nor are they guaranteed to be 100% blight resistant. Scientist have to consider this information when breeding these trees and take the risk of losing the tree once they begin to mature because they are still very likely to succumb to the blight fungus and die before they reach true maturity. The purpose of this program is to see which trees overcome the blight fungus and which trees do not.
Figure 4.) Poster created by the American Chestnut Foundation.
Once the blight resistant trees are uncovered their seeds will be selected and cross breed with other blight resistant seeds which will be used to continue the research and help create the next generation of hybridized trees. The goal is to create a blight tolerant tree that bares as close genetic resemblance as possible to the original American chestnut tree with the addition of the blight resistance trait that is native to the Chinese chestnut tree.
Scientist are able to continue this hybridization by using multiple methods such as genetic breeding, bioengineering, biological control and hypovirulence all together in order to insure their success at creating more blight resistant trees.
Although, this generation of trees may not produce the iconic American chestnut tree that dominated parts of the US years ago, this research program and conservation approach allows us to continue to fight for the tree species in hope to one day be able to produce a healthy, strong American Chestnut tree that future generations will be able to enjoy.
Figure 5.) Field of the hybrid trees.
Work Cited
Hodgins, Jane. “What It Takes to Bring Back the near Mythical American Chestnut Trees.” What It Takes to Bring Back the near Mythical American Chestnut Trees | US Forest Service, Northern Research Station, 9 Apr. 2019, www.fs.fed.us/features/what-it-takes-bring-back-near-mythical-american-chestnut-trees.
Garrison, L., Barton, C., Hebard, F., Bobigian, A., & Freidhof, S. (2011, April). American Chestnut: An Update for Kentucky Woodland Owners. Kentucky Woodland Magazine, 6(1), 10-13. file:///C:/Users/Kris/Downloads/FFW/KWM-Apr-2011-Chestnut-pg10-13.pdf
American Chestnuts in Kentucky | American Chestnut Foundation – Kentucky. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.acf.org/ky/american-chestnuts-kentucky/
Figure 1) Photo taken from the American Chestnut Foundation Archives
Figure 4) Photo of the billboard from The American Chestnut Foundation
All other photos taken by the student.
I have a American Chestnut tree in my yard. I live in Bellville, Ohio