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American Chestnut

Restoration

Breeding efforts are currently underway to develop American chestnut families that are resistant to both chestnut blight disease and ink disease. Once disease-resistant American chestnuts are available for planting, the next step is establishing founder populations throughout the species’ range. This will require a tremendous and expensive effort, thus understanding how to maximize reintroduction success is essential. Northern Research Station Scientists are currently evaluating multiple aspects of chestnut reintroduction, from silvicultural strategies; how to manage forest stands to enhance planted chestnut establishment; to site selection; how to choose sites where chestnut can grow and compete well; to adaptation of improved chestnut to local stressors, for example extreme cold. Results from this work will inform breeding efforts as well as a landscape-scale strategy to reintroduce this species throughout its large range.

Research Summaries

• Site Quality Controls over the Successful Reintroduction of American Chestnut
• Testing Silvicultural Approaches to Reintroduce American Chestnut to the Allegheny National Forest
• American Chestnut Restoration
• Identification and Utilization of Ectomycorrhizal Fungi for Restoration of the American Chestnut in Reclaimed Mined Lands (inactive)

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