
Spotlights
USDA. FS. Southern Research Station. CompassLive.
The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was an iconic tree that is now functionally extinct. For a hundred years, researchers from multiple organizations have been working to restore this tree. A free online course – An Introduction to the American Chestnut – is now available. The course covers chestnut taxonomy, silvics, historical importance, ecology, and its demise. A second course in development will cover American chestnut restoration and management.
USDA. Forest Service.
Sometimes reaching a height of more than 100 feet tall with trunk diameters often well over 10 feet, the American chestnut was the giant of the eastern U.S. forests. There were once billions of them and their range stretched from Georgia and Alabama to Michigan, but the majestic tree was gone before forest science existed to document its role in the ecosystem. Notes left by early foresters including Gifford Pinchot, the founder and first chief of the USDA Forest Service, suggest that its ecological role was as impressive as the tree's size. Mature American chestnuts have been virtually extinct for decades. The tree's demise started with something called ink disease in the early 1800s, which steadily killed chestnut in the southern portion of its range. The final blow happened at the turn of the 20th century when a disease called chestnut blight swept through Eastern forests. But, after decades of work breeding trees, The American Chestnut Foundation, a partner in the Forest Service's effort to restore the tree, is close to being able to make a blight-resistant American chestnut available.
USDA. FS. Southern Research Station. CompassLive.
The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was a keystone tree species in the eastern U.S., once found in the forest overstory from Maine to Georgia. The loss of the "mighty giant" to chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica), a fungal disease accidentally imported from Asia in the early 1900s, reduced the once dominant chestnuts to remnant understory sprouts. After eight years of field testing, USDA Forest Service research forester Stacy Clark and her colleagues evaluated blight resistance and survival of the backcross-generation American chestnut seedlings, known as BC3F3. Their results were published in Forest Ecology and Management.
Distribution / Maps / Survey Status
USDA. FS. Northern Research Station.
Select the non-indigenous forest pest to view maps depicting state and county distribution. Produced by: USDA, FS, Forest Health Protection, and its partners.
Images
Videos
Google. YouTube; CBS This Morning.
Selected Resources
The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source. Or, to display all related content view all resources for Chestnut Blight.
Partnership
Federal Government
International Government
Forestry Commission (United Kingdom). Forest Research.
State and Local Government
Academic
Professional
Citations
- Anagnostakis, S.L. 1997. Chestnuts and the Introduction of Chestnut Blight. Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.
- Griffin, Gary J. 2000. Blight control and restoration of the American chestnut. Journal of Forestry 98(2):22-27.
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Cryphonectria parasitica. [Accessed Sep 10, 2014].