The American Chestnut
At one point in America’s not so recent past the eastern landscape was dominated by one tree, the American Chestnut. At the turn of the last century the American Chestnut occupied a territory of over 9 million acres and represented one out of every four trees in the eastern forests.
They were notable more than just being everywhere, the trees themselves were majestic, growing over 100 feet tall and 10 feet in diameter. They were the kings of the eastern forest ruling for thousands of years. Their size was felt and the inherent beauty was stunning. It is said that when the trees bloomed in the summer months the mountains of Appalachia looked like they were covered in snow due to the immense amount white blooms on the chestnut trees. It was a sight that was enjoyed by many on the east coast each year for centuries…then disaster struck.
One day in 1904 a fungus was discovered on one of the American Chestnut trees located in the New York Zoological Park. A fungus that would later turn out to be what is known as chestnut blight. From there it spread rapidly throughout the northeast and within 50 years almost every single one of the 3 to 5 billion American Chestnuts were gone. Chestnut blight hit, and it hit hard.
The fungus originated in Asia and was imported on nursery stock. When it arrived it spread like wildfire because the American Chestnuts didn’t have any resistance to the blight like their Asian cousins, or so it was assumed. Based on that assumption the solution at the time was extreme; timber companies eradicated and clear-cut every American Chestnut tree out there in an attempt to control the blight. It is sad that it played out that way, because the trees are gone and with them so is any potential resistance to the blight that might have lied within the forests. Within those standing trees were there any resistant genetics? Possibly, but we will never know because they are gone.
Gone are the trees that were relied up so much by wildlife and humans alike. From the now extinct passenger pigeon to many of the residents of Appalachia, the impact was felt. It was said that chestnuts were so abundant that they could be shoveled off of the forest floor with a shovel, but suddenly they were gone and not coming back. A free, readily abundant staple food source was no longer a part of the landscape.
In Appalachia the American Chestnut was an integral part of life. The nuts were used for food and the trees themselves made great timber being straight grained, lightweight and rot resistant. Rex Mann said that in Appalachia the American Chestnut was part of a life from the cradle to the grave with both the cradles and the caskets being made out of chestnut. But those times are gone and today almost all of the American Chestnuts are gone and all that remains are the memories, the stories, and the stumps where once mighty trees stood for thousands of years; the only remaining markers of the giants that once were such a huge part of the ecosystem and a huge part of America.
The trees are gone, but the roots themselves are still fighting on. Resistant to blight, they continue push up new shoots, trying to regain a foothold. But unfortunately those shoots are short lived, dying in their teen years before they have a chance to flower and reproduce. Despite their short lived success there is a truly amazing resilience to survive there. The mighty trees still holding a place in the landscape and trying and trying to rise again, but given the conditions, the odds of survival and a comeback are low.
And this is where we come in. Like many of the problems we face in the world, we are the species that did the damage, and we are the species that had the ability to restore the damage. It was over 100 years ago that we introduced the blight to America and then we reacted short sighted and some would say profit driven, and cut down all of the original trees. Despite those events we now have the ability to step in and help change the future. Resurrecting and reintroducing these mighty giants into the American landscape.
We can all be a part of the solution.
We can impact the future.
We can leave our mark on the landscape for centuries and generations to come.
There are many people and groups out there leading the way. It is through the dedication and hard work of these people, including my guest Phil Rutter, that there is hope. Though massive breeding programs and the large scale selection of genetics we can all work to find genotypes that are blight resistant. We don’t need labs, we don’t need sophisticated equipment, we don’t need genetic modification, we just need to get a lot of seeds into the ground and observe the results and repeat. It is work that takes a lot of dedication and time, and you have to go into it know that you may never achieve success, but history is being made and progress is being made today. Right now it is happening and we can all participate.
It is only going to be thought the efforts of a lot of individuals and a little bit of luck that we restore that piece of America and bring the American Chestnut back to the landscape.
This interview is with Phil Rutter of Badgersett Research Corporation. We talk about why perennial based woody agriculture is important and how chestnuts and hazelnuts fit into that system. We also talk a lot about plant breeding using mass selection to find genotypes of plants that have the traits that you are looking for. This episode is pretty dense and has a ton of information in it for anyone looking to breed plants. Phil is brilliant and I think I learned more about plant breeding in my conversations with him than I ever have anywhere else. Given how much information is in this podcast and how long this podcast is, I have split it into two parts. This is part one, with the second part coming in episode 58.
Take it all in, enjoy it, and most importantly do something with this information.
PODCAST
ACF - American Chestnut Foundation
The American Chestnut in Southern Appalachia: An Oral History (Part 1 of 3)
One of the Largest Remaining American Chestnut Trees in North America
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