Reviving American Chestnut Trees May Mitigate Climate Change

[Staff]

Reviving American Chestnut Trees May Mitigate Climate Change
ScienceDaily (June 15, 2009) — A Purdue University study shows that introducing a new hybrid of the American chestnut tree would not only bring back the all-but-extinct species, but also put a dent in the amount of carbon in the Earth's atmosphere.

Reviving American Chestnut Trees May Mitigate Climate Change
excerpt from above:

At the beginning of the last century, the chestnut blight, caused by a fungus, rapidly spread throughout the American chestnut's natural range, which extended from southern New England and New York southwest to Alabama. About 50 years ago, the species was nearly gone.

New efforts to hybridize remaining American chestnuts with blight-resistant Chinese chestnuts have resulted in a species that is about 94 percent American chestnut with the protection found in the Chinese species. Jacobs said those new trees could be ready to plant in the next decade, either in existing forests or former agricultural fields that are being returned to forested land.

[Hedgerowe]

I would be thrilled to plant a 94% American chestnut. Does anyone know if there is a reason not to (aside from cultivation issues like site, etc.)?

[Equilibrium]

It's over for the American Chestnut. Consider it obliterated other than some pockets left here and there. I can't think of any reason not to plant it. I've been planting 'Timburr' to fill the niche vacated by the loss. 'Timburr' can be bought from Okios Tree Corps. It has the most American DNA available that I know of. I am going to be first in line to buy the 94% chestnut when it is available.

[hazelnut]

They are really big trees unless the size will not match the A. chestnuts. There are a few groves of them here that so far have survived the blight. I would say you would need a lot of space. The one's I have seen are at the far end of pastures in sort of a meadow setting.

[gbreadman]

I had a fruiting american chestnut when I first moved here. It was about 25 feet tall.

Unfortunately I didn't know anything about trees back then, and the expert (someone who ran a local sawmill) told me it was "impossible" that I had one. Unfortunately by the time I realized it, the tree had broken its bark and died of blight. The stump also lost its suckers; I know it had some suckers growing.

I would suspect that deer find them palatable, but I'm not sure if they are high on the menu. I hope to plant some, too...are they shade-tolerant?

Dan

[hazelnut]

I think once you have the blight in your area it would not be a good idea to replant the trees unless you are sure you have blight resistant strains.

There are Native American chestnuts left - there are quite a few around here on old homesteads - in sort of wooded pasture contexts. These are in transition areas to old pleistocene soils and that might have something to do with their vigor.

[JennyC]

If they're in pasture settings, the isolation could have something to do with it, too.

[Equilibrium]

'Timburr' is blight resistant. They're shade tolerant.