Foundation takes next step in returning chestnut trees to state forests
June 14, 2005
University Park, Pa. -- Volunteers from the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation on June 8 purposely inoculated hybrid chestnut saplings at a Penn State site with the blight that wiped out most of the native species. This is the next step in a process aimed at reintroduction of a blight-resistant version of the majestic tree into state forests. Volunteers inoculated some 250 trees. The expected return rate of disease resistance is about 1 in 64, according to Tim Phelps, president of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation and research support technician in the College of Agricultural Sciences. The blight, a fungus, will start growing in the saplings within about a month. By November, preliminary evaluations will begin, and in the spring, researchers will choose the most blight-resistant of the trees to begin a seeding program.
The American chestnut tree once was a part of native forests from Maine to Georgia and as far west as the Mississippi. It was prized for its nuts and for the timber. But a blight introduced by imported Asian chestnut trees decimated the native species by the 1950s. This ongoing project aimed at breeding a hybrid tree that will resist blight, is taking place at The Arboretum at Penn State. The beginning of the reforestation process still is about 15 years down the road, according to Sara Fitzsimmons, tree breeding program coordinator for the American Chestnut Foundation. At Penn State, the 10-acre-site at the University Park's Arboretum has about 2,000 trees on 14 or 15 plots in varying development phases. This seed orchard eventually will be planted with about 31,500 trees. When all the inoculations and hybrid selections are completed, about 210 trees will be left to provide seeds for future generations of chestnuts.
For photos of the process, check Penn State Live at: http://live.psu.edu/still_life/2005_06_08_chestnuts/index.html
For more information see:
The Arboretum at Penn State
Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation
Contact:
Gary Abdullah
gxa2@psu.edu
814-863-2708