Our American Chestnut Tree Educational Orchard
American chestnut burs typically have three seeds.
The late Dick Will, a former resident of The Woods, was a tireless advocate for the American Chestnut tree and serves as Chairman Emeritus of the American Chestnut Foundation. Upon joining the Woods Garden Club, Dick proposed establishing a chestnut orchard at the Woods and a suitable site was sought in collaboration with Potomac Valley Properties, the owners of The Woods.
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In 2016, along with the Woods Foundation, the Woods Garden Club assisted with the planting of a demonstration/education orchard of 50 American Chestnuts between the 12th and 15th fairways on the Mountain View Golf Course. In 2017, we planted 50 more -- as seeds this time. Each following year more seeds were planted to replace those that were lost for various reasons. Due to the faithful stewardship of those volunteers who water and care for these trees, many are doing very well so far.
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The American chestnut tree (Castanea dentata) is a large, deciduous tree of the beech family native to eastern North America, including WV. These giant trees stood up to 100 feet tall, numbered in the billions, and were the single most important food source for a wide variety of wildlife. Rural West Virginians depended upon the tree’s annual nut harvest as a cash crop to feed livestock. The chestnut lumber industry was a major sector of rural economics. Chestnut wood is straight-grained and easily worked, lightweight and highly rot-resistant, making it ideal for fence posts, railroad ties, barn beams and home construction, as well as for fine furniture and musical instruments.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the fungal pathogen responsible for chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) was accidentally imported into the U.S. from Asia. It spread rapidly throughout the eastern forests. As a wound pathogen, the fungus enters the tree through an injury in the bark. It spreads to the underlying vascular cambium and wood, killing these tissues as it advances. The flow of nutrients is eventually choked off to and from sections of the tree above the infection, killing the tree above ground. By 1950, the fungus had eliminated the American chestnut as a mature forest tree.
The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) is committed to restoring the American chestnut tree to our eastern woodlands to benefit our environment, our wildlife, and our society. Forest restoration is a specialized form of reforestation, but it differs from conventional tree plantations in that its primary goals are biodiversity recovery and environmental protection. This makes restoration of the American chestnut a long-term commitment. Their ultimate goal is to create a template for the restoration of other tree and plant species throughout the world.
Their backcross breeding program uses Chinese chestnut trees, naturally resistant to the blight, and crosses them with American chestnuts. These trees are then backcrossed to the American species. Each generation is inoculated with the blight fungus and only those trees with the highest resistance are used to breed further generations. This process continues over seven generations to produce an American chestnut tree that retains no Chinese characteristics, other than blight resistance.
[Taken from material at the American Chestnut Foundation website: https://www.acf.org]
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Maintenance information for those taking care of this orchard is available on this website. A planting manual is also available for those who contact us.
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