American Chestnut Blight - Greatest Forest Loss in History

[George Collins]

Here is a video that details the loss of the American chestnut, calling it the greatest forest loss in history.



There are a couple organizations working towards re-establishing this grand tree by selectively breeding what is hoped to be blight resistant specimens:

The Americsn Chestnut Foundation -

The American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation -

Here is an excellent article on the state of the restoration efforts -

[pa_friendly_guy]

I watched the video, it was well done and well worth the time. I agree that the loss of the American Chestnut left a huge void in our woods. When I was young I remember seeing the huge rotting stumps in the woods. They are all but gone now, the last remnants of the once great trees. In Pa the Oaks have helped to fill the void in the mast crop for wild life, but the gypsy moths desimated alot of the Oak trees 4 years ago. Both of these problems, the chestnut blight and the gypsy moth were brought here by man. What were we thinking? I know that they have a chestnut now that they believe might be totally blight resistive, but it will take 15 to 20 years to be sure. That is about when the trees are large enough to be effected by the blight. I am hopeful that we make have a solution to the blight problem at hand.

[pa_friendly_guy]

When I was at the Pa Farm Show this week I spoke to the Pa Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation. We talked about the Chestnut Restoration project and what they have been doing to try and bring back the American chestnut. They have made great progress with blight resistive varitys, and they are working on a variety that will be resistive to ink disease. Ink Disease effects the root of the tree and will kill it if it is infected. They are working with the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative to plant chestnuts on coal mine land that is being restored. I was glad to see what is being done here locally, as well as across the country to restore the American chestnut.