Redwoods of the east

Many people, it seems, have some underlying sense of the tragedy of the great American Chestnut tree. Fondly called the “Redwoods of the East,” billions of these majestic trees once covered the East Coast, Appalachian range, and Ohio Valley, comprising up to one quarter of the trees in these deciduous forests. Mature American Chestnuts frequently stood 100 feet tall with massive trunks up to 10 feet in diameter. With such an imposing profile, useful hardwood, and delicious nuts, the trees are folded across the lore of American history, art, poetry, and music

A devastating foreign fungal blight struck in the early twentieth century, rotting the insides of the chestnut trees and causing the majority to disappear by 1950. Ever since, conservationists have been trying, mostly in vain, to develop a way to combat the blight and bring back the lost eastern icon. However, through a careful process of cross breeding with blight-resistant Chinese Chestnut trees and back-breeding with the American species, scientists seem to be getting closer. They have developed a tree that is more than 90% American in genetic make-up, but maintains the fungal resistance of its Chinese cousins.

One of the most poignant pieces of this Post article tells of how the roots of the once mighty trees still live underground, so saplings will frequently crop up in the woods, only to be destroyed by the still lurking blight. But now, conservation groups, working together with the federal government, are beginning to introduce the cross-bred trees into the wild. It will take many hundreds of years for them to grow to full size, which makes me sad, but hopefully this marks the start of the American Chestnut’s return.

Giant American Chestnut Trees, originally uploaded by Steadyjohn.