The American chestnut: There was a time when the American Chestnut was king of New England forests, but in the early 1900's, they were all destroyed by a blight. Today scientists have found a way to use genetic data to bring the tree back. More info at www.acf.org
Something Wild: Will We Ever Have Chestnut Stuffing Again?
Air date: November 21, 2003
Welcome to this week's edition of Something Wild. I'm Rosemary Conroy for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.
Well, Jack Frost has been nipping at our noses, so can chestnuts roasting on an open fire be far behind? Well, not really. While you can still buy chestnuts in the supermarket, those aren't really the kind that Bob Wells and Mel Torme were talking about when they wrote that famous song back in 1944. Most stores today only carry Chinese chestnuts.
No, Bob and Mel were waxing nostalgic for the fruits of the American chestnut, a tree that once dominated the forests of the east. Before 1900, nearly one in every four trees was a chestnut revered for straight, rot-resistant lumber, abundant and nutritious nuts, and stately presence. Today, all that remains are a few scraggly stump sprouts and the occasional individual tree, usually located in some way out of the way pocket.
That's because in 1904 a terrible blight was introduced that eventually eliminated the chestnut. While the people and wildlife that depended upon this tree have adjusted, the loss of this species has been mourned ever since.
Happily, the American Chestnut Foundation is close to bringing back this noble giant.
After years of failure, scientists uncovered genetic data that has allowed them to cross the American chestnut with its blight resistant Chinese cousin. After successive backcrossing, they will soon have a species that is 97% pure American chestnut and 100% blight resistant. Hopes are high that these trees will be available for distribution by 2006.
Of course, it could take over 100 years for chestnuts to return to their former glory, so we won't live to see it. But as the poet Lucy Larcom once said, "He who plants a tree, plants hope." And we certainly could all use more of that.
To find out more about the work of the American Chestnut Foundation, visit the Something Wild section of nhpr.org.
Something Wild is a joint production of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, NHPR, and the Audubon Society of New Hampshire.
For Something Wild, I'm Rosemary Conroy.
