"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your ear...". What thoughts come into your mind when you hear these words of the familiar song? Holidays? Family memories? Thanksgiving dinner? The American Chestnut was a majestic tree and an abundant resource in our Southern Appalachian Mountains. It accounted for 25% of the hardwoods in the forest and one tree could feed a family of four! One huge tree in Waynesville, NC was 17 feet in diameter and 53 feet in circumference.
What happened to the American Chestnut tree? It was wiped out by blight from a fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica. The fungus was first discovered in Bronx Zoological Park, Bronx, NY in 1904 and spread throughout the entire range of the American chestnut reaching our mountains and destroying most mature tress by 1930s and just about all by the 1950s. The fungus was introduced by Japanese Chestnut trees imported into the United States in the late 1800's.
The American chestnut wood is very rot resistant which made it prime lumber and also is the reason you can still see the huge stumps and remains in our forest today. Seeing the stumps is awesome and melancholic. The tree is very prolific and many saplings are sprouting up in our forests. It is hopeful and sad to see them because once they reach about 12 feet, they are overcome by the fungus.
Harold Dyer, Fred Woodward, and Mickey Cummings were hiking in the Chattahoochee National Forest near Jack's Knob and they discovered a chestnut tree. It is 48 feet high and 9 inches in diameter, much larger than the abundant saplings you normally see. The Forest Service had parts of the tree tested and it is a hybrid. Hybrids have been developed and some that were 50% Chinese chestnut and 50% American chestnut were reintroduced into the forest some time ago. It is believed that this tree is survivor from that planting.
There are two organizations working to restore the American chestnut to the forest: the American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation (ACCF) and the American Chestnut Foundation (ACF). The ACCF intercrosses 100% American chestnut trees selected for native resistance to the blight and seeks to develop a tree with natural resistance. The ACF has been working on breeding hybrids of American and Chinese chestnut trees since 1983. Trees are selected from each generation based on their ability to resist the fungus and have the characteristics of the American chestnut. The early hybrids were 50% American and 50% Chinese chestnut. Today there are trees that are 94% American. The goal is to have trees with no Chinese chestnut characteristics except resistance to the blight.
Dr. Mark Stallings, a member of the executive board of the Georgia Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation, provided a status of activities in our area. The goal of the foundation is to restore the American chestnut tree to the eastern U.S. through a scientific program of breeding and cooperative research. American chestnuts with blight resistance will be ready for testing over the next 3-10 years. Dr. Scott Merkle is an expert researcher of the chestnut genome with the goal to develop disease resistant chestnut trees with American characteristics. He is working with the GA Research and Education Center in Blairsville to plant an experimental grove of trees in the near future. After the testing period, the goal is to begin reforestation efforts.
What can we learn from the history of the American chestnut tree? We live in a worldwide ecological system. Unfortunately exotic species can wreak havoc on native species. The American chestnut was destroyed by a non-native fungus for which it had not developed resistance. Our Hemlock trees are currently battling for survival from an exotic parasite, the wooly aldelgid. Hopefully the survival will be better than that of the American chestnut. And the story goes both ways. An American fungus virtually destroyed the grapevines of Europe. Today almost all European grapes are produced on American root stock with grafted European varieties.
We can enjoy and protect the native species we still have in our mountains. The Plant Rescue Team would like to encourage you to get out and enjoy diversity in our mountains. Potential benefits are to reduce the stresses of our hectic lifestyles and perhaps to see how important it is to protect the plants and trees for future generations.
So when you hear the familiar song, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" or see the American chestnut saplings in our forest, remember the abundance that once was and think of the hope that the majestic tree may one day be returned to its rightful place in our forest.Smokey Mountain Sentinel
