I've got American Chestnut trees on my mind again. One of the worst things to ever happen was the chestnut blight to come over to the states.
There’s a baby american chestnut at the place where I work :3
There has been a breeding program running for some time to create blight-resistant American chestnut trees. It is very likely that sometime soon in the future, they will return to our forests again…
I grew up helping my dad collect American Chestnut catkins and burrs for the local chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation so their researchers could use the materials to develop new hybrids or strains that are blight resistant. So happy to see people talking about this! I wanted to reblog and link to the ACF website so people who want to get involved can. Volunteers are always needed to go out into woods and catalog any wild trees, collect samples, and plant new generation saplings either on the lands ACF owns or on your own land (though you have to buy the saplings and they're not cheap, it's one of the ways the program generates funding). I have such fond memories of going out with my dad on those collection trips and on the yearly sojourn to the local orchard to plant new saplings developed by the scientists.
Saving the American Chestnut Tree | The American Chestnut Foundation The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) conducts research to develop a blight-resistant American chestnut tree (Castanea dentata) for reintr The American Chestnut Foundation