Cutting-edge science restoring American chestnut tree

[n2doc]

By Jordan Schrader, USA TODAY
RALEIGH, N.C. — In sterile labs and under leafy canopies, scientists are taking steps they hope will bring back a majestic forest dweller nearly wiped out decades ago by a deadly fungus.
The 1,200 chestnut tree saplings planted in national forests in North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia last year are thriving, says Bryan Burhans, president of the American Chestnut Foundation.

In its heyday, the American chestnut tree helped build houses and barns and feed bears, deer and farmers' livestock across the eastern USA. It also stored carbon dioxide on an unmatched scale, which today would be a powerful weapon against climate change, Burhans says.

"People have forgotten how important and what a wonderful tree the chestnut was," said Ron Sederoff, professor of forestry at North Carolina State University. "It was one of the most important trees in the ecology of the Appalachian Mountains, and there were rural communities that depended on it. There was wildlife that depended on it. There were industries that depended on it."

"And when the blight came through, all of those things were lost."

more:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-10-19-American-chestnut-tree-blight-resistant-genetically-modified_N.htm?csp=34

[theHandpuppet]

1. There is a small grove of the old American Chestnuts...

... on the family farm in SE Ohio, in the Appalachian foothills. Very large old trees. I guess they escaped the blight. I love the chestnuts and so do the deer but boy do they stink when they're in "bloom". You also have to spray the ground around them with pesticide or all the nuts will get these nasty larvae in them. That's the one thing in the world that I cannot abide -- larvae. I'd rather be tossed into a pit of vipers.

My grandparents had many types of trees you don't see to often these days, like Pawpaws and Persimmons. The raccoons loved both. I don't know why the PawPaw isn't more popular.

[RT Atlanta]

2. Georgian Chestnut Trees

Thank you for sharing and this is great news about science at work.


From the following summary of Chestnut Trees in GA, this was newsworthy here a few years ago:

In 2006 a stand of American chestnut trees, estimated to be between twenty and thirty years old, was discovered in Pine Mountain near Warm Springs. Composed of six forty-foot-tall trees, the stand is the southernmost representative of the species able to produce flowers and nuts. Pollen from the trees is expected to help scientists produce a breed resistant to the chestnut blight fungus.

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-944

[theHandpuppet]

4. I wonder if any pollen from my grandparents trees...

... would be of any use to the scientists? As I recall I believe they brought the saplings up from the old homestead in SE Kentucky.

[DKRC]

6. Won't hurt to make the offer

The worst thing you'd get would be a No thanks.

[xchrom]

3. and it's a gorgeous tree!

:applause:

[theHandpuppet]

5. Lovely but messy and occasionally stinky

You wouldn't want to plant one close to your house, especially if you like to walk around barefooted!

[Ganja Ninja]

7. I wonder if they'll ever be able to bring back the American Elm?

I watched them die out when I was growing up back in the 60's. Some really huge trees. They use to be everywhere.