The American Chestnut Tree (Castenea Dentata) is one of the most magnificent indigenous trees of the Eastern US and once numbered over 4 billion and had a range of more than 200 million acres. Sadly, in the first part of the 20th century it was decimated by a blight that was unknowingly imported with Asian chestnut trees.
In response, the American Chestnut Foundation (www.acf.org) was founded in 1983 by a group of prominent plant scientists who recognized the severe economic and ecological impact that the demise of the American Chestnut had caused within the tree’s native range. Since it’s founding the ACF has focused on breeding a blight resistant strain of chestnut trees, and their efforts have resulted in a hybridized Chestnut tree that is 15/16 American Chestnut and 1/16 Chinese Chestnut.
Fred Scott, a resident of Bundoran Farm, generously agreed to support ACF two years ago and currently has 300+ seedlings at various growth stages planted on his property. As time progresses each tree will be inoculated against the blight and the least-resistant trees will be eliminated. Eventually the goal is to have a remaining stand of blight-resistant American Chestnut Trees to harvest nuts from, which then will be used to harvest new stands elsewhere.
Only time will tell how the trees fare, but we’re excited to observe how the project unfolds over the years ahead. Below are a few pictures of the seedlings and the HELM team after a recent afternoon spent maintaining the grove.
