IndigenoushaBi TaT / ecoS ySTeM / conSerVaT ion
From left: An open American chestnut bur; Wild American chestnut trees growing in western North Carolina –Photos courtesy of The American Chestnut Foundation
By Dan Hale
as The aPPalachian Trail was shelters from some of the last available Today, the remaining chestnuts persist as first being built, the forests along the Trail chestnut wood. small stump sprouts on the forest floor were dramatically changing. american Before the blight, the american and nearly all die back from blight before chestnut trees, the largest and most abun- chestnut tree was incredibly valuable to they can flower and reproduce. dant trees in the forest, were dying en the ecology, culture, and economy of Thea merican chestnut was a founda- masse. chestnut blight, a disease caused appalachia. mature chestnuts are ef- tion species, shaping the structure and by the airborne fungus Cryphonectria fectively absent from today’s forests, function of an entire ecological commu- parasitica, reduced the population of amer- their population reduced to small nity. after the last frosts (usually late ican chestnut trees from four billion (one sprouts, but work is underway to bring June), chestnut trees would produce long quarter of all the trees in eastern u.s. them back, and a.T. hikers are uniquely white male flower stalks called catkins forests) to functional extinction, meaning positioned to help in this effort. that feed honeybees and other pollinators, CASTANEA DENTATA the population cannot reproduce enough called “the redwood of the east,” the and pollinate small female flowers on to sustain itself. american chestnut was the largest tree in neighboring chestnut trees. each polli- chestnut blight was accidentally intro- eastern north america. The average height nated female flower grew into a spiny duced in new york city in 1904 and spread of a mature forest chestnut was 100-105 capsule called a bur that contains three outward through the appalachians over feet, with an average trunk diameter five- nuts. every autumn, the plentiful burs the course of 40 years. Picture the civilian to-eight-feet wide. some of the largest would open up and nuts would fall to the conservation corps (ccc) crews of the chestnuts on the western slopes of the ground, feeding wild turkeys, passenger 1930s digging new trail through hillsides great smoky mountains grew as high as pigeons (now extinct), blue jays, black of dying, dead, or cut-down chestnut trees, 130 feet, with trunks over 10 feet wide. it bears, deer, racoons, squirrels, and chip- weaving the trail around fat tree stumps. would take more than five people to link munks. The leaves of american chestnuts Theccc constructed many of the first a.T. their hands around the base of one tree. are a preferred food for insect larvae and
48 A.T. Journeys / Winter 2021 Winter 2021 / A.T. Journeys 49 The Appalachian Trail runs through the heart of the American chestnut’s historic range, making hikers perfectly positioned to find the rare chestnut trees that still persist in the forest. caterpillars, which in turn are eaten by New leaf growth on an American harmful effects to the environment. The other animals such as fish and birds. Even chestnut. –Photo courtesy The American Darling 58 tree is awaiting approval the soil is bolstered by the chestnut tree, Chestnut Foundation from the U.S. Department of Agricul- because its leaves contain more nitrogen, ture so that it can be planted out in the phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium forest. The Appalachian Trail Conser- than other trees. grained and rot resistant, making it vancy is proud to have written a letter The loss of the American chestnut useful for fence posts, building construc- of support during the public comment caused an ecological cascade that drasti- tion, furniture, and musical instru- period of the review process, which cally altered the population dynamics of ments. Tannins from the wood and bark closed on October 19, 2020. the forest. Wildlife perished up and were used to tan leather products. The The Appalachian Trail runs through down the food chain, decreasing the devastating loss of the chestnut tree the heart of the American chestnut’s abundance of squirrel, deer, cavity- coincided with the great depression, historic range, making hikers perfectly nesting birds, Cooper’s hawks, cougars, deepening the hardship of that time. positioned to find the rare chestnut trees and bobcats. Insect species suffered, and Today, promising action is underway that still persist in the forest. These wild the American chestnut moth became to restore the American chestnut tree. American chestnuts are needed so that extinct without its only food source. The American Chestnut Foundation they can be bred with the blight-resis- Even river water quality declined since (TACF), founded in 1983, leads work that tant trees produced by TACF, diversify- nutrient-rich chestnut leaves provided combines traditional breeding and bio- ing the gene pool and integrating local the base of the food chain for aquatic technology to develop genetically di- adaptations. On your next hike, keep an macroinvertebrates (bugs) and the fish verse American chestnuts that are re- eye out for long canoe-shaped leaves that eat them. sistant to pathogens. Traditional with edges that have large prominent The chestnut tree was fundamental breeding crosses the American chestnut teeth that curve back on themselves like to the livelihood and culture of both with the blight-resistant Chinese chest- breaking waves. If the tree has long Indigenous people and European-Amer- nut over multiple generations to pro- white catkins or spiny green burs the icans. Among many tribes, the Indige- duce a hybrid tree that retains the size of your fist, you were lucky enough nous word for chestnut was similar: characteristics of the American chest- to find a tree that survived to maturity. chinkapin, chinquapin, chincapin, chin- nut. TACF partners with the State Uni- Your help finding one tree will contrib- copin, and chechinquamin (as translated versity of New York College of Environ- ute to restoring not only the American into European languages). The Cherokee, mental Science and Forestry, which chestnut species, but the whole ecological Iroquois, and Mohegan (Mohican) tribes leads biotechnology research that is community it supports. in particular would burn and clear the producing a genetically engineered, forest to favor the growth of chestnuts, blight tolerant American chestnut tree which they used for food, medicine, known as Darling 58. Darling 58 trees Learn more about chestnut identification kindling, and woodworking. The nuts retain 100 percent of their natural and how to report the tree you’ve found by from the chestnut tree were roasted or American chestnut genes, and a single visiting TACF’s website at: ground into flour, in addition to many gene from wheat is inserted to allow the acf.org/resources/identification other culinary uses. Farmers would turn trees to survive the blight. This well- their hogs loose in the forest to fatten up researched gene is commonly found in Dan Hale is the ATC’s New England Natural on the nuts. Chestnut timber is straight- nature and there is no evidence of Resource and Land Stewardship Manager
50 A.T. Journeys / Winter 2021