The sad plight of the American Chestnut Tree

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Tragedies are not limited to Shakespeare, botanical history is also littered with them. Such is the story of the American Chestnut Tree.

Before the 1990’s, the American Chestnut was the dominant tree species (approximately 40%) in the forest of the Eastern United States. The American Chestnut was highly priced for its beautiful and durable wood, its aesthetic qualities, and, of course, its nuts. The chestnuts provide wildlife with ample food and were also gathered by humans.

In 1904, a forester noticed that some trees in New York Zoological Society’s Bronx park were dying. The problem was traced to a parasitic fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica, common on Chinese and Japanese Chestnuts but never before known in the Americas. The parasite was unwittingly brought into the park together with some Chinese Chestnut specimens.

The Chinese species have enough natural resistance to the parasite not to be severely damaged when infected. However, the American Chestnut does not have such a resistance. The parasite started to spread everywhere the American species was found and all efforts to curve it proved futile.

From 1904 until the 50’s the disease left dead trunks over the American Chestnut’s entire natural range from Maine to Alabama. The space left by the dead trees were quickly taken over by oaks and other species so Americans aren’t aware of the loss today. Have they survived to this day, the American Chestnuts would be supporting a multi-billion timber industry and wildlife should have been much more abundant.

The roots of the many dead trees continued to live and send up sapling but they were continuously beaten back by the blight until the root stocks, exhausted after more than 50 years, died too. Today, out of the estimated 3.5 billion trees originally in the natural range, fewer than 100 are producing nuts. The huge trees seen today in Oregon were planted as much of Western North America is still free of the parasite.

A lot of time, money, and effort was spent to bring the American Chestnut back to its natural range with only limited success. A hybrid with mostly American genes was planted on the the White House lawn in 2005. It is doing well up to the present, a symbol of humanity’s attempt to atone for what is considered as the greatest botanical disaster in history.

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