Before the 20th century, when a wild turkey wanted a snack, it headed
for the nearest American chestnut tree. In fact, animals everywhere
in the Appalachian Mountains feasted on this major food source each
fall.
Then disease--a type of fungus called a chestnut blight--killed
millions of American chestnut trees. Today, few chestnuts remain and
acorns have become the most popular food for animals in the
Appalachians.
To bring the chestnuts back, the U.S. Forest Service, Virginia Tech
and the NWTF are combining their research and resources to help the
American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation (ACCF) fight the blight
along the east slope of Sinking Creek Mountain in Virginia's
Jefferson National Forest.
The ACCF has developed a three-pronged approach to fighting the
fungus. First, they breed blight-resistant chestnut trees and plant
them in good chestnut habitat. Then they inoculate these trees with a
weak strain of the blight containing a virus that attacks the nastier
wild strain. Finally, they cut away parts of the most successful
trees and graft them onto root systems of trees that have already
succumbed to the disease. This grafting allows healthy,
blight-resistant sprouts to use already established root systems to
grow more quickly into mature, nut-producing chestnuts.
The NWTF helped support the ACCF's chestnut research and restoration
work on good potential chestnut habitat in the Jefferson National
Forest. Because of these efforts, the American chestnut may once
again become an established food source for wildlife.
For more information on the American chestnut or to reclaim American
chestnut habitat on your land, contact the American Chestnut
Cooperator's Foundation at ACCF, 2667 Forest Service Road 708,
Newport, VA 24128. Or e-mail Lucille Griffin at
accf@direcway.com
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