American Chestnut Now Potentially Resistant to Blight and Root-rot
Greenville, SC—Dr. Joe James of Seneca, SC may not have been a Boy Scout
himself, but when the Scouts came calling last year about getting an American
chestnut tree planted in Greenville, they knew that Joe was their man.
Joe, a longtime member of The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) and
retired orthopedic surgeon, has spent much of his time helping bring back the
American chestnut tree since retiring several years ago.
Nearly 500 Boy Scouts from the upstate area, family members and troop leaders
recently attended the planting of two American chestnut trees at the Upstate
Historical Museum to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Boy
Scouts.
James is helping lead the effort in South Carolina to return the chestnut to its
native forests in the Upstate. The
American chestnut once thrived in the Greenville area and was the dominant
hardwood in local forests. However,
a deadly blight accidentally imported from Asia in the early 1900s killed nearly
four billion American chestnut trees in the eastern part of the United States in
the short span of 50 years.
The trees planted are two of just 85 survivors of a scientific experiment that
involves breeding American chestnut trees for resistance to several diseases.
James selected these 85 from an initial 1,500 trees.
The young saplings planted are expected to resist not only the deadly
chestnut blight but also Phytopthora
cinnamomi (root-rot), a disease that is especially deadly to the American
chestnut tree. The American
chestnut was once abundant in upstate South Carolina but chestnut blight and
root-rot teamed together to decimate the chestnut tree population.
“Phytopthora is actually a bigger
threat to the chestnut tree in our area,” said James.
“It has been around since the early 1800s and attacks the entire root
system of the tree. It’s very
common in the southeastern region.
Chestnut trees that have been bred for resistance to the root-rot only have
about a 3% chance of long-term survival once they are infected with the
disease.”
James has screened trees for root-rot every year since 2004 and his work is
beginning to pay off with the planting of these saplings at the museum.
TACF is continuing to support James’ work on producing American chestnut trees
that can fight off root-rot. For
more information about supporting this work and bringing an American icon back
to the Upstate visit www.acf.org or contact
James directly at (864) 972-1122.
The American Chestnut Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)-3 organization with more
than 5,500 members around the world and chapters in 17 states.
Founded in 1983, its sole mission is to restore the American chestnut to
its native eastern forests. Please
call (828) 281-0047 for ways to get involved with chestnut restoration.