Restoring the American Chestnut Tree
At the end of his book "The Lord of the Rings," J.R.R. Tolkien describes the Hobbits, as heroes, returning home to the Shire to find many of their prized trees destroyed, replaced by developments and factories. Through the magic of the Elf Galadriel, the Hobbit Sam restores all of the lost trees in one year's time, including one large and glorious Mallorn tree.
Somehow, when reading this story, the imagery immediately brought to my mind was of the fate of the American Chestnut Tree. While man's development and logging certainly has caused havoc to trees in general, in the case of the American Chestnut tree, it has been a blight introduced at the beginning of the 20th century which has brought about its near demise. In the last century we have lost over 4 billion of these real-life grand and glorious trees. Except for very small shoots, virtually all trees in the eastern half of North America are gone, and of the larger trees in the mid-west, only a few stands remain, and those have recently become infected by the blight.
Many have been searching for a way to save and even restore the American Chestnut trees. Rather than the magic of Elves, they have employed scientific research to achieve this goal. Recently the American Chestnut Foundation (www.acf.org) has embarked upon a promising journey to develop a hybrid Chestnut tree, which is 94% American and 6% Chinese. By producing many of these trees they hope to statistically chance upon an almost pure American Chestnut hybrid which retains only the one characteristic of the Chinese Chestnut which makes it resistant to the blight. They predict that in 5 to 10 years we may see the return of the king of Eastern North American trees to our woods and forests. Let us cross our fingers and roll up our sleeves.
Just as in the world of the Shire, as described by Tolkien, a living memory of an old age may continue into a new age. In fiction it was the Mallorn, but in our reality the American Chestnut, with any luck and diligence, shall be that living memory, reintroduced into all our intensely colored forests that remain.
I have personally been interested in Chestnut trees since I was a small boy. My grandfather had a large, spreading Chinese Chestnut tree in his yard. As a gardener he taught me much about things that are green and grow. Every autumn, we would enjoy collecting the Chestnuts, and roast them in the oven. Just as I suppose is so of most grandparents, mine would let me have most of the nuts myself. Since that time I have always collected nuts from Chestnut trees anywhere I could find them. Thirteen years ago I discovered five trees in Northmoreland Park. Every fall I go there still, my family helps me pick up the nuts just for the fun of it, I am the only one who actually likes to eat them. I have also been planting the nuts almost every fall. I have one tree on my own property that is now thirteen years old, and various others that range from there to young seedlings. One of my favorite aromas is that of the Chestnuts in bloom around early summer.
I do quite a lot of hiking in various woods around the area, including the woods beside my own property. I have seen Chestnut trees which I have rather suspected to be American Chestnut trees. None of these are very big, they are slender and for their size quite tall, they range from about two to eight inches in diameter. I read a few years back about their plight, and of efforts to restore them. At the time I never paid much attention, except to pause at the foot of few Chestnut trees in the woods that I have seen, to pay my respect to a once mighty king, and reflect upon what it might have been like to have seen these trees when they were grand. I can only imagine that same aroma I enjoy now from Chinese Chestnuts in June, waffing at one time many years ago all through the woods, that must have been something wonderful to experience.
Recently, because of joining the Westmoreland Conservancy, I became interested in the plight of the American Chestnut in a more tangible way. After doing much research on the web, I memorized the characteristics which distinguish the American Chestnut from various other varieties. My plan is to go back to the parks and woods where I know of these few trees to try to identify and verify, beyond my mere original suspicion, that these are really what I think they are. There is one tree in Duff Park on Trillium Trail just beyond the bridge. Another is in Townsend Park. There were once four of these trees in the woods near my house. Two have since died, indicative of the stories I have heard, that the trees will grow only to a certain age. One of the two that died, around 8 years ago, was larger than the rest, and actually did produce nuts in the final year before it died. I wish back then, that I had the knowledge I do now, and had tried to identify the burs and nuts from that tree. The tree still stands, I hike by it all the time, a no longer living memory, yet I feel blessed to have once known it.
A Chestnut I planted from seed, most likely a Chinese
Chestnut trees at Northmoreland Park
