Restoring a Lost Giant

Want to do something that will live on long after you, that will make generations yet unborn praise your name in gratitude?

Plant a new American Chestnut tree.

Niki King at the Courier:

This time of year a century ago, Kentucky ridges would have looked almost snowy with blooms from the American chestnut tree.

It's a sight local volunteers want future generations to see again.

American chestnuts — massive hardwoods highly prized for their timber, tannin and nuts — were all but lost a half-century ago to an Asian blight that killed 4 billion of them, decimating 25 percent of the Eastern U.S. tree canopy.

But years of efforts to restore the American chestnut are finally taking root across the country — and in the Louisville area.

Nuts from a major research farm in Virginia that were bred over 28 years to be blight resistant were planted at public and private sites in the Louisville area this year. Only a limited number of nuts were available.

Also, members of the Kentucky chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation are breeding offspring of the state's 20 surviving trees for blight resistance and research. An orchard in Oldham County is expected to bear nuts this fall for the first time.

The ultimate goal is to restore the American chestnut to the Eastern forest, where it was once the dominant hardwood, so it can again provide an abundance of high-quality food for wildlife and strong, rot-resistant timber for building needs, said Bryan Burhans, president and CEO of the American Chestnut Foundation.

“We want to bring back an iconic tree species that was so much a part of history, culture and heritage,” he said. “There was no other tree that could replace the niche that it occupied.”

Louisville-area volunteers who are planting and growing American chestnuts say their work will help the public learn about the tree.

“I'm anxious to see them restored to the countryside,” said George Gibbs, a retired forester who contributed $250,000 to Louisville's 21st Century Parks for a chestnut restoration program. “I may not live that long, but I'd like to see it started.”
'Redwood of the east'

Once called the “redwood of the east,” American chestnuts grew over 200 million acres, from Maine to Mississippi, most prolifically in the Appalachian Mountains. In the Louisville area, they were found in the Knobs region, from Southern Indiana to Fort Knox.

SNIP

The Kentucky chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation is seeking money and volunteers. To donate or volunteer, email Dr. Anne Myers Bobigian at annemonique@bellsouth.net. For more information, go to www.kychestnut.org

To get nuts: People who contribute $300 a year to the American Chestnut Foundation are eligible to receive two potentially blight-resistant chestnuts for planting. To learn more, go to www.acf.org.

Don't Let Our Hemlocks Go the Way of Our Chestnuts

Seen a Chestnut tree lately? No, of course you haven't. They've been virtually extinct for generations.

A hundred years ago, American Chestnuts were the emperors of Kentucky's vast forests, soaring 100 feet high and spreading magnificent crowns almost as wide.

But clear-cut logging and then a devastating blight wiped them from the face of the continent. Although our great-grandchildren may someday play in the shade of American Chestnuts grown from cultivars scientists have started producing, we won't see the Great Chestnut Forests again.

Now Kentucky's Hemlocks are under attack from a foreign insect, and the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission needs your help to prevent our Hemlocks from suffering the fate of our Chestnuts.

From Kentucky's Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet (which, I grant you, is studiously ignoring a whole bunch of way more important problems, but still.):

FRANKFORT, KY (March 21, 2008) – A voracious insect is threatening Kentucky’s hemlocks. The insect is the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, which feeds on a hemlock’s needles and eventually causes its death.

A diverse team made up of land managers, foresters, wildlife biologists, entomologists, public officials, and citizens has formed Save Kentucky’s Hemlocks. The new group seeks public support as it takes action to protect and save hemlocks from the adelgid.

The non-native insect, which originated from Asia, was found in Kentucky in 2006, when it was discovered in native hemlocks in Harlan County. It has since been found in Bell, Leslie, Letcher, Pike, Powell, Clay, and Whitley counties, and much farther west on trees in urban areas in Grayson and Oldham counties. The adelgid feeds on the hemlock’s needles and reproduces exponentially throughout the warm seasons. As summer passes into fall and the temperature drops, the insect prepares itself for the winter season by producing little cocoons- resembling minute cotton balls- that protect it from the cold. This white powdery appearance on the hemlocks is not snow; it is a sign of death.

“We are concerned that Kentucky may lose its hemlocks much like the American chestnut was lost,” said Alice Mandt of the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission.

The hemlock provides aesthetic beauty, critical habitat for a variety of bird species and other wildlife, and perhaps most importantly, its dense foliage protects streams from the sun's harsh rays, Mandt said. Without the protection the hemlock provides from the sun, oxygen levels in streams would begin to plummet and fish species and other aquatic life that depend on this type of habitat (such as black side dace, a federally listed fish) will be harmed. The hemlock’s ability to shade streams and the surrounding soils also prevents other undesirable, non-native species from regenerating in those areas.

If left untreated, the adelgid will leave a graveyard of trees that appears as standing skeletons on streams and hillsides in as little as five to seven years from the time of initial infestation. This has already occurred in the Smoky Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley. Fortunately, new tools are becoming available to slow down and counteract the destruction spread by the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid.

Save Kentucky’s Hemlocks is working to help both public and private landowners to treat their hemlocks. In order for Kentucky to save the trees, the organization will need the help of Kentuckians across the state. The group seeks volunteers to assist with such tasks as surveying and reporting the location of adelgids, helping with fundraising events to gain funds needed to fight the insect, and working in teams to treat adelgids.

Persons interested in joining the organization, making a donation to a nonprofit fund, volunteering, or obtaining more information may contact Alice Mandt, Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission at 502-573-2886 or Donna Alexander, Kentucky Natural Lands Trust at 877-367-5658.

Cross-posted at BlueGrassRoots.