100% American Chestnuts!

    The American Chestnut tree is now a thing of legend.  At one time, it is said, the tree made up nearly 1/3 of the Appalachian forest.  Some chestnut trees were said to live 500 to 600 years, grow 100 feet tall and up to 8 feet in diameter!  That is a legendary tree.
     The American Chestnut tree also provided food for humans and animals in the form of nuts; they were a favorite food of the (now extinct) passenger pigeon.  Many nuts were sold to provide income to sustain families.  The wood of the chestnut was used for constructing homes, furniture, tool handles, and fence posts.
     The whole chestnut "economy" came crashing down a hundred years ago.  In the 1880s, some folks brought Japanese and Chinese chestnuts to the United States in the hopes of creating hybrids with the American Chestnut.  Unfortunately, they also brought a fungus along, too.  The asian chestnuts had a resistance to the blight caused by the fungus, but not the American Chestnut.  In 1904, the blight was discovered on a tree in the Bronx Zoo and by 1908 it was in Pennsylvania.  By 1930 nearly all of Pennsylvania's chestnuts had the blight and by 1950 the American Chestnut was gone.  Still today, old stumps may still produce some growth, but it soon succombs to the blight, too.

American Chestnut leaves

     This is the point where the complex genetic code of organisms allows for light at the end of the dark tunnel.  Genetic variation in individuals provides a possibility that a few individuals may be resistant to a disease that harms the rest of a population.  It is also possible to breed individuals to possess this resistance.  Currently, there are two different strategies for bringing back the American Chestnut.
     The American Chestnut Foundation has crossed the American Chestnut with the Chinese Chestnut and then back-crossed all of the descendents for 5 generations to end up with a tree that is 99% American Chestnut and 1% Chinese Chestnut.
     The American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation searched out American Chestnut survivors and has been breeding them for 40 years.  These are 100% American Chestnuts and are descendents of trees that have natural resistance to the blight.  These trees are not immune to the blight, but a majority of their offspring can survive with the blight.  The ACCF works in conjunction with the public and distributes chestnut seeds to be planted throughout the region.

Lutherlyn's American Chestnuts

     At Lutherlyn, we planted two crops of chestnut seeds from ACCF, one in 1999 and another in 2001.  From those crops, we currently have 11 flourishing American Chestnut trees at Terra Dei Homestead.  Two of these trees are over 20 feet tall and over 4 inches in diameter.  This year, for the first time, three of the trees produced nuts!
     It is extremely gratifying to see these chestnuts reproducing.  It allows us to imagine a day when American Chestnuts will again become part of our forest ecosystems.  The American Chestnut's return means that the tree that the Iroquois once used to build longhouses and settlers once used to build log cabins and split rail fences will again be a part of our forest.  It will once again support wildlife and people and may, one day, regain its legendary place in Appalachia.

    For more information on these two organizations, please click on the links below.
         American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation
              American Chestnut Foundation