At the turn of the 20th century, (click here) the American chestnut accounted for a quarter of the hardwood trees in some parts of Appalachia. The large tree was a crucial food source, producing nuts that were a staple in the diets of white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, and bears.
In 1904, a fungal blight was first discovered on trees in New York City, accidentally introduced via imported Asian chestnut trees. The invader spread quickly: by 1906 it was estimated that 98% of American chestnuts in New York City were impacted by the blight, which first forms a canker under the bark of a tree and then forms a ring that "girdles" the tree, killing everything above it.
The blight spread quickly. Just a half-century after it was discovered, the blight had all but eradicated mature American chestnut trees from the North American landscape, infecting an estimated 4 billion trees and irrevocably altering Appalachian forest ecosystems.
Now, a $500,000 grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture will help Associate Professor Jason Holliday of the College of Natural Resources and Environment research methods to utilize the genetic diversity of remaining trees as part of broader efforts to introduce disease-resistant American chestnuts to U.S. forests....
