American Chestnuts

published February 22, 2001

Recently, I have heard some wonderful news about the re-birth of the American chestnut tree (Castanea dentata). According to the non-profit organization, The American Chestnut Foundation, located in Bennington, Vermont, several agricultural experiment stations from Maine to Georgia have been successfully crossbreding American chestnuts with blight-resistant Asian chestnut trees or with similar species to maintain healthy American trees as a nut-bearing population.

Ok, so you are probably asking yourself what is an American chestnut tree and why should I care. Before the blight, the American chestnut tree was so widespread that not only could one see a tree as far away as the Appalachian Mountains, but many could have been found right here in Atlantic Highlands and Monmouth County. During its reign, the tree was an integral part of local American history. Wildlife, Native Americans, and European settlers depended on the chestnut's abundant nut crops, bark, and strength of wood for their survival. 

Native Americans depended on the bark of the American chestnut in the construction of their homes and depended on the nuts for part of their diet. Early American settlers in New Jersey also found the timber to be extremely valuable, as they made everything from houses, furniture, barrels and early American musical instruments from the wood. During autumn, herds of deer, squirrels, chipmunks, bears, and birds would take their fill of its abundant nut crop before going dormant or migrating for the winter. 
During the early twentieth century, local farmers would sell their chestnuts on roadside stands or in nearby stores. In some cases, children would sell enough nuts to purchase new clothes and books for school. During the summer, trees would produce their long, creamy flowers and make rural comminutes appear as if they were engulfed in a beautiful white snow.

Then sometime in the early 1900's things began to change for the worse, as thousands of Asian chestnut trees (a similar species, but with more rounded leaves and smaller fruit) were being shipped to the United States to be grown as an orchard or ornamental tree. Unbeknown to most, these Asian chestnut trees were harboring a virulent fungal disease, which would quickly destroy our native chestnut trees. 
In 1904, Herman Merkel of the New York Zoological Park started to discover unusual orange-blushed cankers on the surface of local American chestnut trees. Within a few years, more people in the New York City area began to discover similar cankers on their backyard chestnut trees.

In an attempt to save the tree, people started pruning off the diseased branches or burning mile-wide swaths of diseased trees in nearby forests. None of these actions helped, however, as the deadly disease spread outward from New York City to the entire North Atlantic coast.

In response, between 1911 and 1913, Congress appropriated $165,000 to find a cure, but unfortunately, due the amount of trees that were quickly dying, there was not enough time to gain a clear understanding of how the disease was infecting chestnuts. 

In 1930, the great American Poet, Robert Frost, became disturb by this plight, which some said was similar to a medieval plague. In response, he wrote a poem called "Evil Tendencies," in hopes of calling public attention to the blight:

Will the blight end the chestnut?
The farmers rather guess not.
It keeps smoldering at the roots
And sending up new shoots
Till another parasite
Shall come to end the blight.

By 1950, the American chestnut tree had disappeared from the landscape in forests ranging from Maine to Georgia. Three to four billion mature American chestnut trees, which once represented over thirty percent of the eastern hardwood forest, had vanished due to human error. 

Today, walking in Lenape Woods Nature Preserve or in other local parks, you might come across young American chestnut saplings before they die, as they shoot up, then die after a few years. While the young saplings show how extensive the trees were before the blight, please do not confuse the young American chestnuts with other trees having similar names, such as the Chestnut oak or the Chinese chestnut tree. Though similar in title, the American chestnut tree was the only specie to contain a superior tasting nut and can reach heights over 100 feet. 

Attempting to restore the American chestnut tree to its original status as the "King of the American forest" is the non-profit organization, The American Chestnut Foundation, located in Bennington, Vermont. By working with botanists and biologists from around the world, they are trying to create a genetically altered American chestnut tree, which would be similar in appearance and taste, but immune to the blight. 
So far, they have been nearly successful. The organization hopes to have a healthy, blight-resistant American chestnut tree growing within 10 years. Already active experiments in nearby Pennsylvania and New York have shown promise. 

If you would like to help or would like more information, please contact the foundation at TACF, 469 Main Street, PO Box 4044, Bennington, VT 05201, or call 802-477-0110, or check out their website at www.acf.org. 

By the way, if you think a natural disaster like the near-extension of the American chestnut tree could not happen today, think again. Numerous species are currently being lost to non-native, invasive diseases that were introduced by similar means, including the American Elm tree and the Hemlock tree. In addition, over a third of all vegetation in New Jersey is non-native and this figure is increasing. Highly invasive species, such as Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum), Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), and Norway maple (Acer platanoides) are crowding out native plants that have been growing in this area for hundreds of years. 

The best way to help protect our native woody and herbaceous species is to plant a majority of your garden with only native vegetation. Once established, they require little, if any, supplemental water and no fertilizers, pesticides, or other chemicals to make them look beautiful. If you would like more information about native plants, contact the Native Plant Society of New Jersey at www.npsnj.org. 

sosap@gateway.net - contact Joe Reynolds
http://www.ahherald.com/atlantichighlands/lenprsvshots.htm - Lenape Woods Preserve