Devastated American chestnut may return.

I have no idea why the "other" Republican news mouthpiece, Censored Nonsense Nightly, is covering this, as what they describe is mostly old news.

Still, the restoration of the American Chestnut is one of my private obsessions, so I thought I'd link to this CNN story:

"(AP) -- A century after blight began to bring down the majestic American chestnut tree, once known as the "redwood of the East," scientists are tantalizingly close to reviving it.

Within a few years, using both traditional plant breeding and genetic engineering, researchers hope to have a variety of blight-resistant chestnuts to repopulate the tree's native range.

If they succeed, the towering species that once accounted for one out of every four trees from Maine to Mississippi will be back, benefiting wildlife and humans alike..."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/05/28/reviving.thechestnut.ap/index.html

I would love to see the chestnut tree back in it's place.

They have been crossed with the Chinese Chestnut, I think it's 15/16 pure American Chestnut.

They are doing OK, but not growing much....leaves have yet to be produced. Any suggests is appreciated.

American Chestnut Foundation.

Chestnut back-breeding is a major plot element in Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer, BTW.

that is not a good sign

I'm hoping that they're spending their energies developing a root system.....I really want to see these trees make it.

It has survived a blight infection, and I'm intrigued to see if the tree will continue to grow. Unfortunately, I will probably have to sell my home, but if I do, I will certainly appraise the new owner of the tree's status. I didn't plant the tree (and almost cut it down before I realized what it was) but the leaves and nuts are decidedly American in character.

Gary Griffin, the tree physiologist at Virginia Tech who is working on Chestnut restoration effort believes that there is some native resistant trees. Indeed some old trees survive in Michigan and Western PA. (One of the the surviving natives in Michigan was cut down by vandals. Does anyone know if Dick Cheney was in Michigan on a bender?)

There is some evidence that the viral infection that causes hypovirulence in the blight, might be taking some hold here, although the effect is not as great as it was in Europe.

That virus, by the way, saved the European species from the same fate as the American trees. The infection first appeared in Southern Italy and began moving Northward. The French plant pathologist, Jean Grente, recognized that the survival of some Italian trees did not derive from the trees genetics, but from a "blight on the blight." He moved quickly to innoculate infected trees with the hypovirulent fungus, and the European trees were saved. By virtue of his brilliance and his quick action, the Italian and French Chestnut forests were saved.

Grente tried to accomplish the same trick in the US, where some of the Chestnut forest still survived (this was the 1930's) but unfortunately the blight here had evolved what is known as "vegatative incompatibility" with the original blight, and was less suseptible to the virus, or more properly, the virus like particle.

You ought to contact the society and have them come do an appraisal. If it is native and resistant, they'd want to get ahold of the seed stock.

back.

I have four chestnuts last year, and was planning on planting them, but the squirrels ate them before I could get to them. (I have a huge black Walnut that's supporting a huge population of squirrels.) I was surprised that the squirrels got through the burrs, but they did.

It may be because the tree is still relatively young, about 10 or 12 years old. If I manage to keep this house, I'll keep my eye on it. I certainly intend to tell any potential new owner about what they'll have out there.

a forest of Chestnut giants.

I recently had the pleasure of hiking in the Joyce Kilmore (I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree) Memorial Forest in North Carolina. The virgin grove of giant Yellow Poplars there -- many over 20' in circumference -- are not to be missed if you're ever near the southwest side of Smoky Mountains Nat'l Park.

However, history paints a picture of a much different and more awesome forest of Chestnuts that are the rightful lords of those woodlands. Oh, how I would love to walk among them!

They were huuge trees, marvolous canopies. I used to collect and polish the Chestnuts....a really great tree. Sad to think that my kids have never actually seen one.