The American Chestnut Blight

Thel Kelejian

Appalachian State University

2019
 Evil Tendencies Cancel

Will the blight end the chestnut?

The farmers rather guess not

It keeps smoldering at the roots

And sending up new shoots

Till another parasite

Shall come to end the blight.

-Robert Frost 1

A short poem by Robert Frost gives insight to the conundrum that was the American

chestnut blight, alluding to farmers’ indifference, and likely fear of the chestnut’s demise. Frost

quite accurately predicted the outcome of the blight, “smoldering” until the rise of another

conundrum. The American chestnut blight is an environmental disaster which shook the nation,

especially the culturally and ecologically rich Appalachian region. On the back of globalization,

a fungus was transmitted from southeast Asia into the U.S. at the start of the 20th century. This

fungus, ​Cryphonectria parasitica​, was first detected at the Bronx Zoological Park in New York

City, 1904 2. Over the next forty years, this blight would spread unforgivingly across the chestnut

nation. In a relatively short amount of time, the American chestnut blight would evolve to

disorient the economy, alter the ecology, and pillage the culture, while propelling conservation

science into new territories.

1
Robert. “Evil Tendencies Cancel.” 1936. ​[Link]
​Frost,
2
​ riffin, Gary J. Blight Control and Restoration of the American Chestnut, ​Journal of Forestry,​
G
Volume 98, Issue 2, February 2000, Pages 22–27, ​[Link]
 In 1911, ​The New York Times​ published an article headlined: “TREES SOON EXTINCT:

NOBLE CHESTNUTS SEEM TO BE MARKED FOR DOOM.”3 It details that in a matter of

about seven years, only two of the 1,500 chestnuts in the Bronx Zoological Park were left, and

no remedy was known. The blight had spread from Long Island to southern New York, eastern

Pennsylvania, all of New Jersey, the general of Maryland, and had touched the southern corner

of connecticut. It was hypothesized that the culpurate carriers were migrating forest animals,

though there was little to no science behind this claim. ​In 1911, cicadas greatly increased the rate

of the blight when the puncture wounds they left allowed the blight’s spores easier access. At

this point, the infection rate increased by an average of 600% a year.4 ​What was bad seemed to

get worse when ​The Washington Post ​published, “CHESTNUT BLIGHT IS FOUND AT

JEFFERSON”S HOME BY U.S. EXPERT,” ​reporting that the fungus had spread to the home of

Thomas Jefferson near Charlottesville, VA.5 The significance in this is that nobody, not even the

nation’s celebrity elite, could be shielded from the effect of the blight; almost as if the instance of

Jefferson’s home succumbing to the fungus was symbolic of the nation’s ecological demise.

3
​The
New York Times. Aug 14, 1911. "TREES SOON EXTINCT: NOBLE CHESTNUTS
SEEM TO BE MARKED FOR DOOM. BLIGHT SPREAD OVER COUNTRY CANKER
STILL THE GREATEST WICKEDNESS IN THE TREE WORLD, AND NO CURE HAS
BEEN FOUND FOR IT -- ONLY TWO LEFT IN BRONX PARK OUT OF GROVE OF 1,500
NO REMEDY IS KNOWN." ​The Washington Post (1877-1922).
[Link]
ountid=8337​.
4
​Freinkel, Susan. 2007. ​American chestnut: the life, death, and rebirth of a perfect tree​.
Berkeley: University of California Press. 74.
5
​"ATTACKS MONTICELLO TREE.: CHESTNUT BLIGHT IS FOUND AT JEFFERSON'S
HOME BY U.S. EXPERT." Aug 24, 1912. ​The Washington Post (1877-1922).
[Link]
ountid=8337​.
Over the next thirty years, the blight would take hold of Appalachia, where 1 in 3 trees in the

forest were American chestnuts. The region would be changed forever.

The economy surrounding the American chestnut was rich, especially in Appalachia,

where the tree’s population was so dense. The chestnut economy meshed beautifully with the

popular hog economy. The chestnuts would be harvested, baked into pies, or preserved for

upcoming seasons, transported down the mountains for sale, or traded for shoes, sugar, and

coffee among other items.6 The local and regional economy thrived on this yearly bounty. The

chestnut harvest sustenance was far more valuable than the timber, though by the 20th century,

lumber from the American chestnut comprised about 25% of the nations harvested hardwood.7

Many residents of Appalachia lives were changed without the blessings from the American

chestnut. There was little they could do to prevent this. Other countries had taken notice of the

blight as early as 1911, quarantining American tree stock as a preventative measure, but it had

already successfully intruded on domestic U.S., there was little to do to prevent its intra-state

movement via the backs of forest animals.

Being one of the dominant trees of its region, the “queen of eastern American forest

trees,” the blight’s toll on the ecological composition of the area was blatantly noticeable.8 While

anthropocentric activity profited and benefited from the tree, building sturdy houses from its

6
Bethany N., ​American Chestnut Oral History Project.​ 2008.
​Baxter,
[Link]
7
​Wang, G. Geoff, and Huifeng Hu. THE REPLACEMENTS OF AMERICAN CHESTNUT: A
RANGE-WIDE ASSESSMENT BASED ON DATA FROM FOREST INVENTORY AND
PUBLISHED STUDIES, THE REPLACEMENTS OF AMERICAN CHESTNUT: A
RANGE-WIDE ASSESSMENT BASED ON DATA FROM FOREST INVENTORY AND
PUBLISHED STUDIES. 513-515. (n.d.).
8
​Marcucci, Michael. “The American Chestnut: Extinct or Returning?” LEAF, July 22, 2015.
[Link]
ning​.
lumber, forest animals did exactly the same. The mast crop of the chestnut was consumed in

great quantities by wild turkey, deer, bear, and was largely stored away by squirrels and other

rodents.9 The oaks and hickories that moved in to the chestnuts’ vacancies also produced mast,

although the bounty is nowhere near as plentiful and reliable as the chestnut. Researchers

compared the mast of western North Carolina in the 1930’s to the 1960’s, finding that it had

dropped an average of 34%.10

Mountain residents, such as Walter Cole, who grew up in the Great Smoky Mountains,

observed that “turkeys got scarce, an’ the squirrels are not there one-tenth as many as they were

before,” among others who noticed that raccoons, black bears, and white-tailed deer were harder

to come by.11 A large portion of nectar was also removed from the natural cycle, and honey

harvests suffered along all others.12 While the blight is often blamed for a great loss in mountain

biodiversity, elements of human encroachment and pollution are important factors which have

likely influenced this reality. As a primary producer of the forest, reintroduction of the American

chestnut would potentially benefit the ecology today as it would directly increase and support

greater native biodiversity. The absence of American chestnuts is thought to hinder the

restoration of other species such as goshawks, Cooper’s hawks, cougars and bobcats.13 White

tailed deer and wild turkeys have notably made a great rebound, the deer population growing to

be a pest of the region. The most severely harmed creatures were seven species of moths which

all fed on the tree, expected to be extinct.14

9
​Baxter, Bethany N., ​American Chestnut Oral History Project.
10
​Freinkel. 83.
11
I​ bid. 83.
12
I​ bid. 83
13
​ reinkel. 83.
F
14
​ reinkel. 83.
F
 Though the blight was devastating in its time, and many people still reminisce the sweet

and plentiful chestnuts, the resilience of nature has since compensated for the chestnuts’ demise.

The tree was declared “effectively extinct” by the 1950’s.15 When the mortality rate of one

species increases, other species are exponentially more likely to go extinct.16 However, the

animal species that benefited from the tree’s sustenance and shelter who suffered the blight, are

still prevalent in those same regions today. Oak trees and maples largely grew into the absence of

the American chestnut.17 These trees became increasingly incorporated into the diets of native

species. Though the region was severely disrupted, nature is designed to evolve and adapt in the

face of complications. Most people today are not consciously aware of the trees’ absence.

Despite this natural progress, The American Chestnut Foundation is determined to raise

awareness and restore the native chestnut population, and establish a framework applicable to

native restoration projects world wide.18 While their intentions are noble, it is worth thinking

about the potential environmental costs of reintroducing the chestnut and further disrupting the

natural processes of eastern American forests with an anthropocentric hand.

The culture surrounding the American chestnut, which intertwined the economy and

ecology of the chestnut, is notable in history. There was such a plethora throughout the core of

Appalachia that many chestnuts each season were simply left on the forest floor, though not to

waste. The hogs would be released into the woods to pork up off the chestnuts. Cattle also fed off

the nut. The trees were so plentiful, there was no concern over property lines, the pigs ran

15
​Marcucci. “The American Chestnut: Extinct or Returning?”
16
​Säterberg, T., Sellman, S. & Ebenman, B. High frequency of functional extinctions in
ecological networks. ​Nature​ 499, 468–470 (2013) doi:10.1038/nature12277
17
Wang and Huifeng. 513.
18
​“Saving the American Chestnut Tree.” The American Chestnut Foundation.
[Link]
throughout the area, marked by signature notches in their ears. The chestnuts would give a

desirable flavor to the hog meat, reminiscent of the sweet chestnuts themselves. Eulice Walker,

who lived through the events of the blight in Etowah County, Alabama, recalls just two patches

of trees.19 Still, despite property lines, everyone shared. In the face of the blight, without

knowing what to do, many thought the chestnut would come back someday.20

It is not possible to determine when exactly the blight reached the Blue Ridge region. The

national struggle of the blight began disappearing from newspaper headlines as World War I

began.21 Citizens of Appalachia were preoccupied, many men were sent abroad, later returning to

a home that was fundamentally changed. Likely due to the exponential nature of infectious

disease, the Appalachian chestnuts seemed to fall ill and die far faster than those in the

Northeast.22 It took 25 years for the blight to fully cover the thirty-three million acres of

Appalachia, prompting increasing concern over forest fires.23 Forest experts began to

contemplate ways to minimize economic damage in the wake of the blight. The USDA urged

people to cut down their chestnuts before they deteriorated; if cut within a year, they could be

harvested for utility poles, and could still be used for lumber if cut within ten years.24 Even

longer after the death of a tree, tannin could be extracted, and by 1930 twenty-one extraction

plants were in southern Appalachia producing half of America’s vegetable-based tannins,

shipped north for the manufacturing of heavy leather.25

19
​Baxter.
20
​Ibid.
21
Freinkel. 76.
22
​Ibid. 78.
23
​Ibid. 78-79.
24
​Ibid. 79.
25
​Ibid. 80.
 Much like the event of the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s, and partially coinciding with its time

frame, many people affected by the American chestnut blight simply waited on the blight to pass,

convinced the trees would rehabilitate naturally. With little understanding of ecological function,

this response was understandable. With the vital industry depressed, those who depended on the

yearly harvest to support themselves and their families had to seek other means. According to

Rex Mann, the loss of the chestnut sent Americans to other means of making a living, such as the

railroad industry.26 The chestnut blight is a direct effect of globalization, comparably a deferred

symptom of the Columbian Exchange. The sorrow from the blight persists to this day in areas

such as Patrick County, Virginia. Chestnut trees comprised 25 to 30% of the forest, the topic

remaining a trend in recollections of family histories.27 While the blight has been spotted earlier,

it was reported by USDA to have been swarming the northern region of the state in 1912.28

Products derived from chestnuts brought in about $2.5 million a year (equates to nearly $50

million today) to the state of Virginia.29 The state legislature allocated funds to research the

blight in 1912.30 While little could be done for the American chestnut tree, the research funding

that went into this event prefaced the protocol for other incoming threats to native life such as

Dutch elm disease.

An obstacle of American chestnut reintroduction is that a remedy to ​Cryphonectria

parasitica​ has yet to be discovered. There have been successful cases of cross breeding the tree

with it’s cousin, the Chinese chestnut, which is immune to the fungus that wiped out the North

26
​Baxter.
27
​Freinkel. 72.
28
I​ bid. 73.
29
I​ bid. 73.
30
I​ bid. 73.
American crop. These hybrids are successfully cultivated in America, their fruits sold at harvest

each year. ​The Washington Post and Times Herald​ published in 1958 about the “Solution found

to [the] Case of Missing Chestnuts.”31 The article states that Chinese chestnuts were found to be

most similar to the late American chestnut, though still not the same as the sweet American tree.

The American Chestnut Foundation has been working extensively on a tree which is

fifteen-sixteenths American and one-sixteenth Chinese, and are optimistic toward restoration of

the tree to native forests.

A common misconception pertaining to the American chestnut blight is that the tree has

since the mid 1900’s been extinct, with little to no chance of persisting again in the wild for as

long as a blight remedy does not exist. However, the trees do still exist in the wild in areas of

isolation, high altitude, and loosely scattered throughout the region. The blight does not affect

the root system, therefore sprouts are able to grow. While the tree sprouts tend to grow about 15

feet tall before being killed by the blight, some are able to briefly reach the age of fruition, and

produce chestnut seeds capable of germinating new trees.32

A study by Wang and Huifeng collected data concluding that while the American

chestnut is rarely found in the forest overstory, which today is dominated by various species of

oaks and maples, the forest understory is abundant with American chestnuts.33 The data

expressed is compiled from research extending from 2001 to 2009, and could be interpreted as

the chestnuts strides for a natural return. The few mature trees that do still exist appear to be

31
​"Solutionfound to Case of Missing Chestnuts." Feb 09, 1958. ​The Washington Post and Times
Herald (1954-1959).
[Link]
ountid=8337​.
32
​Marcucci​.
33
​Wang and Huifeng. 513.
blight resistant, and researchers collect the seeds from these “mother trees” in hope of

germinating a blight resistant tree.34 There may have been more of these resilient trees. Since the

USDA endorsed the indiscriminate and immediate removal of blighted trees, the fate of the

American chestnut was further sealed. While the blight remains a threat to the young trees,

resistance adaptation is always a possibility. Maybe the farmers who foresaw the naturally

sequential recuperation of the tree were right.

While scientists associated with The American Chestnut Foundation are doing their best

to resolve the environmental disaster which is the American chestnut blight, conservation science

is faced with an evolution of challenges from ecologically destructive entities such as the

hemlock woolly adelgids, and by mountain pine beetles and spruce beetles.35 With so many

native species currently threatened by forms of bacteria, fungi, parasite, or pest, it is easy to

adopt a pessimistic view on American forests. The challenge of restoration of the American

chestnut is a project that has retained longevity since it’s disappearance in over half a century.

The blight inflicted a great loss. However, it is important to understand that nature fluctuates and

altering the environment, whether unintentionally through modes of trade and globalization, or

dynamically in an effort to compensate for those alterations of the past, can carry unforeseen

consequences.

In an increasingly globalized world which is constantly evolving to adapt to ongoing

change, it may be unnecessary, or simply nostalgic, to attempt to enforce the reintroduction of

American chestnuts. However, the American chestnut is the most productive crop of its native

region, feeding people, pollinators, and wildlife alike. Its successful reintroduction could

34
​Marcucci.
35
Baxter​.
revitalize the fragile ecosystem and intensify the confidence of conservation science. The

economic significance, ecological importance, and cultural character of the chestnut has withheld

a charm that continues to entice environmental conservationists to remedy the state of this tree in

its former regions in the future. For this, the American chestnut remains deeply embedded in

American history.
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