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CONTACT- Elizabeth Hammond
MA/RI Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation
WHAT: American Chestnut Planting at Massachusetts Audubon Sanctuary, Wachusett Meadow
WHEN: Sunday April 22, 2012; 10-12AM…Earth Day
WHERE: 113 Goodnow Rd. Princeton, MA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On Sunday, April 22nd, 2012, beginning at 10 AM, the Massachusetts Audubon Society at Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary will host a planting of five potentially blight-resistant American chestnut seedlings as part of their celebration of Earth Day 2012. In partnership with The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF), the planting will take place at the edge of one of the fields near the parking lot, for all to see. The event will begin with an introduction by Audubon staff, followed by an informational presentation about TACF’s program to restore the American chestnut.
Once called the Redwoods of the East, the tapered, single trunks of the American chestnut trees, some growing up to 100’ tall, dominated the Appalachian forests, providing abundant food for wildlife, and humans, as well as providing fire and rot resistant timber for fence posts, telephone poles, house framing, plaster lathe, boxes, pallets, and many other uses. A majestic tree when grown in the open, it inspired poets, artists, and outdoor enthusiasts alike. When the chestnut blight arrived on imported Japanese chestnut nursery stock, in the late 1800s, it killed almost all the mature trees, about four billion, from Maine to Georgia. Because the blight fungus cannot live in the soil, the American chestnut is often able to re-sprout from the roots, but the population of sprouts and seedlings in our woodlands is not effectively
reproducing, and is slowly dying out. The many benefits once provided by this great tree however, have been all but lost.
The blight is a fungus that grows through the bark into the nutrient, growth, and water conducting tissues, eventually girdling and killing the above ground part of the tree. The Chinese chestnut and the blight evolved together in Asia, so the Chinese chestnut is blight- resistant, and can contain the spread of the fungus. The American chestnut evolved in isolation in North America, and has no resistance. TACF’s program is combining the resistance of the Chinese chestnut with the tall, upright growth habit of the American chestnut, with the goal of restoring a resistant form of the American chestnut back into the forest of its native range.
The five trees being planted on Earth Day are TACF’s Restoration Chestnut 1.0, the most advanced from the breeding program to date. They are the result of six generations of breeding. This technique is widely used to develop and accentuate desirable traits in vegetables and flowers.
The MA/RI Chapter of TACF currently maintains about 28 Breeding Orchards, including one in Princeton, as part of TACF’s program to restore the American chestnut to eastern forests. The next stage of the Chapter breeding program involves the creation of 10 Seed Orchards. For more information visit: www.masschestnut.org
The American Chestnut Foundation was created as a 501 c (3) conservation organization in 1983 by a small group of dedicated scientists who initiated a special project of backcross breeding. It is headquartered in Asheville, NC. The goal of the American Chestnut Foundation is to restore the American chestnut tree to our eastern woodlands in order to benefit our environment, our wildlife, and our society. In 2005, the process generated the first potentially resistant nuts, called Restoration Chestnuts. Assisted by more than 6,000 volunteer members in 23 states of the American chestnut’s range, the organization has begun to plant Restoration Chestnuts in select locations. To learn more about TACF and its National breeding program, visit www.acf.org, or contact Paul Franklin at (828) 281-0047 - pfranklin@acf.org
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