Chestnuts roasting on an open fire; Jack Frost nipping at your nose . . .
Those words paint a picture of a cozy winter evening. (They’re from “The Christmas Song.” The Nat King Cole Trio first sang the tune.) Have you eaten that roasted nut snack at Christmastime?
No matter where you buy your chestnuts, you won’t find the native American variety. That’s because it is nearly extinct. A fungal blight (plant disease) mostly wiped out the species in the 1930s.
Researchers have been working to bring the tree back for decades.
American chestnuts once grew in forests from Georgia to Maine. But now they exist mostly as root systems underground. They send up shoots. Those grow for a time. Then the disease takes hold.
East Asian varieties are immune to the blight. They produce most of the edible chestnuts for fall and winter snacking.
But the American chestnut has a beloved legacy. The trees made good wood for building. They provided food and shelter for both wildlife and humans.
The American Chestnut Foundation is trying to breed a hybrid. That tree would have mostly American genetics (the God-given code that determines a living thing’s design). It would also have the fungus-fighting traits of the Chinese type.
That’s not a simple project. Blight resistance involves several different genes. It’s hard for breeders to separate them from other Chinese chestnut traits.
Some scientists work to genetically modify American chestnuts. (That means changing genes using genetic engineering techniques in a lab.) They hope to boost the tree’s immunity that way instead.
Meanwhile, still other scientists tackle another challenge ahead for chestnuts. If researchers can breed or modify a tree with genes of trees from Tennessee to New York, where should they plant it? Where would it have the best chance for survival?
Forest scientists know their work might not pay off in their lifetimes. But they think it’s worth it. Researcher Linda McGuigan says, “I want to do something good for the future, for my children.”
Maybe one day vendors will be able to roast American chestnuts at Christmas again.
And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. — Ezekiel 17:24
