Returning the American Chestnut to Eastern Forests: Part 1

While foresters and forest landowners are currently concerned about ash borer, hemlock woolly adelgid, and beech leaf disease, introduced plant pathogens are not new to U.S. trees. In 1900, half of the Eastern forests were American chestnut, Castanea dentata. Considered the ideal tree species,

they grew large with straight stems of durable wood and produced edible nuts. The lumber was turned into log cabins, flooring, railroad ties, split rail fences, and furniture, and the nuts were roasted, cooked as porridge, and milled into flour. In 1904, nursery stock from China introduced the fungus Cryphonectria parasitica, to which the Chinese chestnut Castanea mollissima and the Japanese chestnut are resistant, but the American chestnut is not. By 1940, three and a half billion trees had been lost; by 1950,

almost all were gone. Although the fungus does not attack the roots and many trees resprouted, the blight reinfects the new trees before most become mature enough to produce nuts. Widespread research has been conducted to try to reestablish chestnut trees that have all the desirable attributes of the American species with the resistance of the Chinese and Japanese

species. Hybridization experiments have been conducted by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) and the American Chestnut Foundation (ACF), repeatedly backcrossing American with Chinese stock such that after 30 years, there are specimens that are mostly American chestnut genome and have some resistance to blight. More recent efforts

depend on genetically modifying trees by inserting a gene from wheat into the genome so that the tree can produce the enzyme that detoxifies the harmful compound produced by many pathogenic fungi, including C. parasitica. This approach would conserve the entire American chestnut genome, but there is pushback against GMO “frankentrees” in the wild. Regulatory approval would involve the US Department of Agriculture, the EPA, and the FDA. GMF has been one of the sites of federally-coordinated efforts to reestablish the American chestnut since 1947. The February newsletter will show more on the role that GMF is still playing in this effort.

For further online reading:



American Chestnut Foundation

National Park Service

James Worrall

Cornell University

World Rainforest Movement

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Hamlet of Heathens

No truer friend of the Forest ever wandered these woods than David Leff, a former trustee of the organization who had helped create the conservation easement that established GMF under the Forest Legacy Program. David left behind a manuscript about his explorations of the forest, the first three chapters of which are scheduled for publication in Appalachia this coming summer. Through the generosity of David’s estate, excerpts of other chapters will appear in GMF newsletters, linked to the full pieces on the website. The first of these appears below, an outing taken by David, GMF Forester Emeritus Jody Bronson, and their friend Ralph Scarpino to Meekertown, an area in the southern portion of Norfolk, now almost entirely within GMF.

In short order, we reached Townhouse Rock, a huge lichen and moss festooned glacial boulder with a sheer face to the path and an overall saltbox shape. A 1984 newspaper article quoted Darrell Russ saying it was “Big as a little house.” Denizens of Meekertown supposedly gathered here to debate public issues and settle disputes. The layout of roads was said to be a favorite order of business, usually the decision rescinded by a vote the next day. Regardless of the discussion or the state of parliamentary procedure, a random drop by the glacier had created a kind of pulpit, place of human consequence, a relationship between geology and people.

Jody walked back to the truck as Ralph and I continued on foot down Old Meekertown Road. The road was laid out in 1792 and once connected what is now State Route 272 in Norfolk with Route 63 in Canaan’s Hollenbeck valley. Meekertown stood on either side of the road’s midsection. Phineas Meeker was an early area landowner, having purchased a 50-acre lot in 1757. He never lived there, his interest being in stands of hemlock and black spruce. Why his name became associated with this part of South Norfolk is a

mystery.

Today, Meekertown is a Norfolk ghost village in the south of GMF near the Canaan line. There are several obscure cellar holes in the woods and a small cemetery, but the short- lived community has cast a long shadow of remembrance due to remarks of Deacon Noah Miner, who probably more than anyone wanted the place forgotten. According to Theron Crissey’s 1900 history of the town, eighty years earlier Miner called the settlement a “hamlet of heathens, living in intellectual, moral and spiritual darkness,” recommending that the Norfolk Congregational Church undertake missionary work.

The rest of David’s story about Meekertown and its denizens can be found here: PDF

Forest Notices

Welcome to the forest!

GMF is a place of peaceful co-existence for everyone

• Keep your dog on a leash and if you pack it in--pack it out.

• Be bear and tick aware when hiking.

• Sign in at kiosks at the East and West Gates.

• Watch for inclement weather notices on social media and website.

• Download the GMF recreational trail map and descriptions from our website www.greatmountainforest.org



• If you have any questions, email info@greatmountainforest.org

Connect with us