Resurgence of the American chestnut
Have you seen the American Chestnut (Castanea dentata)? Are there flowers in June or burrs in September? During the summer of 2015 in reaction to the questionable concept about the American Chestnut going extinct, I decided to do a census of the American Chestnut on the Appalachian Trail in eastern Pennsylvania. A total of over 80 miles of Appalachian Trail was walked along with at least another 40 miles on other trails. More than 7500 trees of various sizes from seedlings to mature adults were found along two trail systems separated by about 25 miles. In three separate locations a total of forty-four trees were found bearing seeds. The limiting factor in reproduction was clearly shown to be access to direct sunlight, not disease. The obvious conclusion derived from this time in the field is that the American Chestnut is coming back without our interference. Attempts to hybridize it with non-native chestnut species to make “blight resistant” trees are equally unnecessary and detrimental to the ecology of the Appalachian forest. See http://www.slideshare.net/rtgardner3. less ↑