Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) planted five American chestnut ( Castanea dentata ) seedlings at Bear Run Nature Reserve on October 28, 2003. Pennsylvania hardwood forests were once filled with American chestnut trees and these beautiful trees thrived from Maine to Florida. Today they have nearly disappeared due to Chestnut bight fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica), introduced from Asia in 1904. The trees planted last October, however, came from a unique stand of American chestnut trees in North Carolina that may have resistance to the blight.

WPC supports the reestablishment of the American chestnut, which once comprised up to 40 percent of Pennsylvania's forests prior to the onset of the Chestnut Blight. The American Chestnut Consortium manages the stand that produced these seedlings and offers the following overview of the trees:

In 1993, for the first time within memory, a producing stand of naturally occurring true American Chestnut trees was discovered in the Blue Ridge mountains of northwestern North Carolina. The stand features over 50 trees ranging from 2 to 35 feet in height, with 17 individuals over twenty feet tall. Over the years, plant pathologists, geneticists and timber specialists from the US Forest Service, North Carolina Forest Service, North Carolina State University, American Chestnut Foundation, and North Carolina Arboretum-Asheville have studied the trees in this stand. As early as four years ago, they found virtually all the larger trees to be infected with the blight. Yet, instead of quickly dying as would be expected given the intensity of the blight in this area, nearly all of the trees continue to grow and produce nuts. Although none of the trees appear to be immune to the blight, most do not exhibit typical susceptibility. The specialists have all differed in their conclusions as to why so many of these particular trees have not as yet succumbed to the Chestnut blight eventhough their trunks are covered with blight cankers. Many believe the trees possess resistance to the blight.

WPC will look for future opportunities to help foster this reintroduction effort of the American Chestnut tree to Eastern Hardwood Forests. Visit this website http://chestnut.acf.org/ for more information about the American chestnut tree.

Pictured today is Matt Hoff, WPC Natural Resource/GIS Specialist, as he plants American chestnut seedlings at Bear Run.

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