The American chestnut was once a
plentiful and important component of eastern forests.
Chestnut trees were a productive and important food
source for wildlife, as well as a cash crop for rural
communities for timber and the annual nut harvest.
In 1904, there were an estimated 4 billion American
chestnut trees in eastern forests. Unfortunately, a
fungus was introduced through the importation of Asian
chestnut trees, which has rendered the once numerous
American chestnut nearly obsolete. The blight, dispersed
by airborne fungal spores, spreads into the bark and
underlying vascular tissue, thus disrupting the flow
of nutrients and leading to the eventual death of the
tree.
Fortunately, there are efforts underway to restore
the American chestnut to its native range of the eastern
United States. The American Chestnut Foundation, a
not-forprofit organization, is dedicated to developing
a blight-resistant American chestnut tree through scientific
research and a unique breeding program. Their goal
is to breed blight-resistance from the Chinese chestnut
tree into the American chestnut while maintaining the
American chestnut’s characteristics. Recently,
Hartney Greymont was contacted by the Massachusetts
chapter to help in this exciting restoration program.
Amazingly, two healthy 40-year old American chestnuts
were identified in Newton, Massachusetts and deemed
ideal candidates for their breeding program.
Under the direction of the foundation, and with the
use of aerial lift equipment, two of our arborists
helped researchers to pollinate by hand the Newton
chestnuts with pollen from trees exhibiting resistance
to the blight. The hope is that the chestnuts produced
in the fall will contain disease resistant genes. After
the fall harvest of the chestnuts, they will be planted
in a research orchard at Moore State Park in Paxton,
Massachusetts. The seedlings will be wellcared for
and protected. In about 6 years the trees will be injected
with the blight-causing fungus, and further studied
to determine their disease resistance.
The American Chestnut Foundation hopes to see a blight-resistant
American chestnut hybrid restored to the eastern forest
in the next decade. To learn more about this organization’s
efforts, contact The American Chestnut Foundation at:
www.acf.org.
