Encouraging News For The American Chestnut

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, March 31, 2004 (ENS) - "A new study offers some renewed hope that the American chestnut tree can be restored throughout much of the range it once dominated. The species was a familiar sight from Maine to Mississippi before it was driven to near-extinction by a fungal disease introduced some 100 years ago.

In a paper to be published in the April issue of "Forest Ecology and Management," Purdue University forestry researcher Doug Jacobs reports that American chestnuts in a study plantation grew as much as 77 percent taller and 140 percent wider than two other forest species - black walnut and northern red oak - in the same plantation over an eight year period. On average, the chestnut trees in the plantation grew to 6.4 meters in height, while black walnuts and northern red oaks only grew to 4.4 and 3.6 meters, respectively, in the same time period.

"This data tells us that American chestnut is such a fast growing species that it should do very well in future restoration programs," said Jacobs, director of the Indiana chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation. "A lot of other species are much more sensitive, grow more slowly or just do not make it, but this tree tends to just explode out of the ground."

Jacobs is studying how well American chestnut trees grow in plantations and is developing a hybrid resistant to blight that can be used in future planting projects. His research is part of a larger initiative by the American Chestnut Foundation to restore the tree to its historic range."

EDIT

http://www.forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=30619

The new Chestnut trees contain the blight resistant gene of the Asian species. They are not, therefore 100% American trees.

The same blight that destroyed the American trees ultimately found its way to Europe, but there the spread of the disease was arrested in part because of quick action by French plant pathologist, Jean Grente, who noticed that there was a hypovirulent strain (a blight on the blight). After inoculating infected forests there with the hypovirulent strain, he was able to arrest the spread of the disease from Southern Italy in Northern Italy, saving the French Chestnut tree.

It has been difficult to reproduce that result here in the United States because the Cryphonnectria Parasitica fungus has been here for a much longer time than it has in Europe. The hypovirulence depends on the presence of a VLP (a virus like particle) to which some North American strains of the blight are resistant. Still there is hope that hypovirulence will play a role in restoration tree.

I note sadly that one of the trees that survived the plague, a magnificent specimen in Michigan was cut down by vandals a few years ago.

Still it would be wonderful to have these hybrids, some of which I believe are as much as 31/32 American stock, back in the forest. This was an extremely important tree.

I am hoping that they make it through the winter here in Maine....they did last year and it was a little milder this year. They don't appear to grow very fast, though.

I don't like to plant non-native trees and shrubs on our farm for wildlife restoration, after having spent several years removing non-native buckthorns and honeysuckle shrubs. That's why planting a hybrid that incorportates some non-native genes makes me feel uneasy. I do have ~20 pure American chestnut seedlings I'm growing right now under growlights that I collected from a source in the Twin Cities, MN last fall. I don't know how long they'll survive before blight finds its way to our farm, but I seriously doubt there are any American chestnuts within 50 miles of us, so they just might make it to maturity.

The hybrids have been carefully crossbred. The intent has been to add only those genes that confer resistance to the blight. The pure American trees can be and should be planted outdoors, increasing the genetic proportion of American trees in any hybrids you plant. The hybrid genes are here for good though and there will probably never again be American trees without them. Indeed there are Asian and European trees growing throughout the United States. That is the source of the problem.

I have a tree on my property that was put here by the previous owners of my home, but I don't know whether its a hybrid or pure American. It's been attacked by blight, but survived. It's probably about 12 years old. I have to move, and it breaks my heart to leave the tree and see what's it outcome will be. It produced nuts last year for the first time, but the squirrels ate them.

the posting on this forum may not be plentiful, but they are
definitely read. keep it up.

"Chestnut is a wonderful wildlife tree," he said. "It is unusual among forest trees in that it can be counted on to produce a good seed crop every single year - chestnuts were a valuable resource to many species of mammals and birds."

Not to mention the open fire roasted chestnuts.