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Image: American chestnut (source) |
This post's title was taken from "The Root of the Matter" by Tom Christopher (Martha Stewart Living, Nov. 2010) about the loss of "emblematic American trees" as a result of chestnut blight, Dutch elm disease, emerald ash borer and Asian long-horned beetle, sudden oak death, and mountain pine beetle (via climate change). Christopher noted that the American chestnut (
Castanea dentata) "is posed for a comeback" as a blight-resistant species courtesy of wheat genes. Read Christopher's entire article
here.
Recently I drank cream of European chestnut (
Castanea sativa) soup and look forward to a local version of this
earthy soup.
Comments
Their "Restoration Generation" is 15/16th American and currently being tested in national forests. In addition, the American Chestnut Foundation has invited their members to be part of their science team. Sponsor members can plant their own seeds and measure and monitor the trees' growth and performance in the coming years. I'm growing some right now!
More details on the American Chestnut Foundation can be found at http://www.acf.org.
Also-- I can recommend a non-fiction book about the American chestnut:
American Chestnut: The Life, Death and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree by Susan Frienkel.
I thought the book did a great job covering why the tree was as important as it well in addition to the various approaches of restoring it.
P.S. I hadn't read it, but if Les is referring to a fiction book-- I heard American chestnuts are featured in "Prodigal Summer"
Second, it seems that we are not the only ones talking about the American chestnut's comeback. The Yale Alumni Magazine (Nov/Dec 2010) reported on ongoing research in the Yale-Myers Forest to "bring back" the tree. The project was initiated by former forestry master's student Leila Pinchot who planted chestnut seedlings bred with genes from the blight resistant Chinese chestnut by Sandra Anagnostakis of the Conn. Agricultural Experiment Station. Read more http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2010_11/lv_chestnut016.html
Ooooh thanks for the link!!!
And here's another for the mix--- a recent article about the Washington Post. I thought my mother misspoke when she left me a voicemail saying there was an American Chestnut article on the front page. But she was right! It WAS on the front page of the Washington Post. w00t!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/17/AR2010101703320.html
http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/267417
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