Native Tree/Plant Plight

[Woolly Bugger]

The American Chestnut Tree is Coming Back. Who is It For?

As federal agencies prepare to deregulate transgenic chestnuts, Indigenous nations are asserting their rights to access and care for them.

When Neil Patterson Jr. was about 7 or 8 years old, he saw a painting called "Gathering Chestnuts," by Tonawanda Seneca artist Ernest Smith. Patterson didn't realize that the painting showed a grove of American chestnuts, a tree that had been all but extinct since his great-grandparents' time. Instead, what struck Patterson was the family in the foreground: As a man throws a wooden club to knock chestnuts from the branches above, a child shells the nuts and a woman gathers them in a basket. Even the dog seems engrossed in the process, watching with head cocked as the club sails through the air.

Patterson grew up on the Tuscarora Nation Reservation just south of Lake Ontario near Niagara Falls. The painting reminded him of his elders teaching him to harvest black walnuts and hickories.

"I think, for me, it wasn't about the tree, it was about a way of life," said Patterson, who today is in his 40s, with silver-flecked dark hair and kids of his own. He sounded wistful.

The American chestnut tree, or číhtkęr in Tuscarora, once grew across what is currently the eastern United States, from Mississippi to Georgia, and into southeastern Canada. The beloved and ecologically important species was harvested by Indigenous peoples for millennia and once numbered in the billions, providing food and habitat to countless birds, insects, and mammals of eastern forests, before being wiped out by rampant logging and a deadly fungal blight brought on by European colonization.

Now, a transgenic version of the American chestnut that can withstand the blight is on the cusp of being deregulated by the US government. (Transgenic organisms contain DNA from other species.) When that happens, people will be able to grow the blight-resistant trees without restriction. For years, controversy has swirled around the ethics of using novel biotechnology for species conservation. But Patterson, who previously directed the Tuscarora Environment Program and today is the assistant director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at the State University of New York's College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, has a different question: What good is bringing back a species without also restoring its traditional relationships with the Indigenous peoples who helped it flourish?

https://modernfarmer.com/2023/09/american-chestnut-tree-coming-back/

[Mudwall Gatewood 3.0]

What good is bringing back a species without also restoring its traditional relationships with the Indigenous peoples who helped it flourish?

Do any of you find this sentence peculiar?

Are you bringing back THE species?

Does incorporating blight-resistant genes from wheat into the American Chestnut make it a different species?

That ship of restoring traditional relationships between the natural world and indigenous peoples may have sailed long ago.  Unfortunately. 

[Woolly Bugger]

Tree Farmer Buzz Ferver Spreads His Love of Chestnuts, on the Ground and in the Kitchen

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Allan "Buzz" Ferver, a 66-year-old with a fetching grin and an Abe Lincoln-style beard, stood at his kitchen island holding a clear plastic bag. Inside was a pale, nondescript meal, a few shades creamier in color than white flour. He spooned some into a mug, added boiling water and stirred. As the water swirled around the grounds they darkened to tan, and the steam developed a sweet, nutty aroma. "Chestnut coffee," he said as he handed over a cup. The taste was reminiscent of Ovaltine, but earthier.

Over the next few minutes, Ferver offered up a bowl of rich chestnut grits laced with cow butter; a slice of wheat bread spread with a thin layer of chestnut butter; and a bowl of tiny, shiny, pan-roasted nuts, their shells cracked to show the ivory flesh inside. We ate the nuts raw, too, cracking the shells with our teeth and biting out the nutmeats.

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/tree-farmer-buzz-ferver-aims-to-restore-the-american-chestnut-in-vermont-and-in-your-kitchen/Content?oid=39234863

[Woolly Bugger]

[Woolly Bugger]

FREE Weekend Screening: CLEAR DAY THUNDER

Join us this weekend, November 4 & 5, 2023, as we celebrate The American Chestnut Foundation's 40th Anniversary with a special offer. We are thrilled to present the award-winning documentary, CLEAR DAY THUNDER: Rescuing the American Chestnut. Here's how to access your free viewing:

INSTRUCTIONS
1.   Click this link - CLEAR DAY THUNDER
2.   Click on "Watch Now" button.
3.   Create an account (it's quick and easy!)
4.   Then use code "TACF40" when you check out and it will remove the $10.
o   Of course, if you wish to pay the $10, then we thank you for your donation!

[Woolly Bugger]

https://wapo.st/3SsojbV

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[Onslow]

Old apples are an interesting subject, but this backward looking hobby.  Some really great apples have been developed by simply by average folk working to find a better apple.

The Gala apple although not a recent addition, is an example of a great apple.  It is a cross between a Golden delicious and and  Kidd Red, which is a cross between a Cox orange Pippen, and old Delicious apple which is probably more like the original Hawkeye Red Delicious which is actually a good apple.

The Ginger Gold is chance seedling

The Pristine apple which is highly underrated is a cross between an unnamed seedling aka Co-op 10, and an obscure Spanish apple.

We need more peeps doing this kind of work.  This guy is hard core.

https://youtu.be/TACp80b4gTU?feature=shared

Take the best of the past, breed them, and make something even better.  Git R done!

[Mudwall Gatewood 3.0]

Old apples are an interesting subject, but this backward looking hobby.  Some really great apples have been developed by simply by average folk working to find a better apple.

The Gala apple although not a recent addition, is an example of a great apple.  It is a cross between a Golden delicious and and  Kidd Red, which is a cross between a Cox orange Pippen, and old Delicious apple which is probably more like the original Hawkeye Red Delicious which is actually a good apple.

The Ginger Gold is chance seedling

The Pristine apple which is highly underrated is a cross between an unnamed seedling aka Co-op 10, and an obscure Spanish apple.

We need more peeps doing this kind of work.  This guy is hard core.

https://youtu.be/TACp80b4gTU?feature=shared

Take the best of the past, breed them, and make something even better.  Git R done!

We sampled the streams in this facility for several years.  Their apple orchard, with 25 plus varieties, is worth the visit.  Apples are cool!

https://www.nps.gov/hofu/learn/photosmultimedia/virtualtour.htm

[Woolly Bugger]

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[Onslow]

I sure hope this chestnut restoration effort bears fruit.

[Woolly Bugger]

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire: Push to plant 1 million nut trees in mid-Atlantic

In the panoply of smells that mark the transition of fall into winter, few are more evocative than chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
The aroma that inspired the first line of Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song" emanates from the U.S.'s once-thriving nut tree crop, which was devastated by a 1900s-era blight.

Now, in 2023, there's a push to help plant 1 million nut trees in the mid-Atlantic.

Michael Judd, co-founder of SilvioCulture, Inc. — a Maryland-based nonprofit seeking to partner with landowners, farmers, investors and other stakeholders — said the smell of chestnuts roasting is alluring.

"Chestnuts remind me almost of a sweet potato on a tree," Judd said. "You get this sweet — both aromatic and tasting — nut."

Some have first experienced roasted chestnuts on a New York City pushcart, with hot pretzels stacked nearby.

"It's very easy to create a set of coals to roast chestnuts," Judd said. "Across Europe and Asia, this is a very common street food — of course, in the wintertime everyone wants to gather around a warm spot."

https://wtop.com/local/2023/11/chestnuts-roasting-on-an-open-fire-push-to-plant-1-million-nut-trees-in-mid-atlantic/

[Woolly Bugger]

America Lost Its One Perfect Tree
Lumber, shelter, delicious nuts—there was nothing the American chestnut couldn't provide.


Across the Northeast, forests are haunted by the ghosts of American giants. A little more than a century ago, these woods brimmed with American chestnuts—stately Goliaths that could grow as high as 130 feet tall and more than 10 feet wide. Nicknamed "the redwoods of the East," some 4 billion American chestnuts dotted the United States' eastern flank, stretching from the misty coasts of Maine down into the thick humidity of Appalachia.

The American chestnut was, as the writer Susan Freinkel noted in her 2009 book, "a perfect tree." Its wood housed birds and mammals; its leaves infused the soil with minerals; its flowers sated honeybees that would ferry pollen out to nearby trees. In the autumn, its branches would bend under the weight of nubby grape-size nuts. When they dropped to the forest floor, they'd nourish raccoons, bears, turkey, and deer. For generations, Indigenous people feasted on the nuts, split the wood for kindling, and laced the leaves into their medicine. Later on, European settlers, too, introduced the nuts into their recipes and orchards, and eventually learned to incorporate the trees' sturdy, rot-resistant wood into fence posts, telephone poles, and railroad ties. The chestnut became a tree that could shepherd people "from cradle to grave," Patrícia Fernandes, the assistant director of the American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, told me. It made up the cribs that newborn babies were placed into; it shored up the coffins that bodies were laid to rest inside.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/12/american-chestnut-perfect-tree-restoration/676927/

[Woolly Bugger]

How Do You Restore a Chestnut Forest or an Apple Orchard? Very Slowly.
This botanic garden is determined to bring back the American chestnut tree and heirloom apples that taste like those grown 500 years ago. It won't be easy.

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At the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, in Boylston, Mass., the grafted heirloom apple trees are already big enough to bloom. But fruit isn't expected for a few more years.

"Explore what's in bloom now," exclaims a banner on the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill's website. And, indeed, there is much to see.

The dramatic property in Boylston, Mass., includes two conservatories and 18 distinct gardens, both formal and naturalistic. The grounds offer sweeping views across the vast Wachusett Reservoir, as well as hiking trails that tuck into wilder portions of the garden's nearly 200 acres.

As director of horticulture, Mark Richardson is always attuned to the calendar of displays that his team provides to delight more than 225,000 visitors a year. But the garden has two additional compelling botanical projects — the planting of blight-resistant American chestnuts and the restoration of a historic apple collection lost to disease — that don't show off in the same way. At least, not yet.



https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/03/realestate/new-england-botanic-garden-chestnut-apple.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4k0.kd7a.RgTpjeg6hCTK&smid=url-share

[Woolly Bugger]

Racing to save white ash trees from extinction in WNC mountains

On a recent summer day, Matt Drury tapped a nail securing a round metal tag etched with the number 213 into a white ash tree along the Appalachian Trail near Max Patch, straddling the Pisgah and Cherokee National Forests.

It's one of more than 800 ash trees that the Appalachian Trail Conservancy is protecting from the emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle from Asia.

"This is incredibly urgent since it kills trees so quickly. We want to be in a position to keep white ash alive on the landscape," said Drury, associate director of science and stewardship for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

https://www.themountaineer.com/racing-to-save-white-ash-trees-from-extinction-in-wnc-mountains/article_e68093c6-4e09-11ef-aba2-c7d77acd7c5e.html

[Woolly Bugger]

Blight-resistant chestnuts planted in Sylva

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The American Chestnut Foundation donated two trees to the Sylva Garden Club, which were planted Tuesday (Oct. 1) in Bicentennial Park, above, and on the Jackson County Library grounds.

Taking part in the planting are, from left, Jackson County grounds staff members Samantha Faust, Randy Cabe, Ira Jones and Jake Brooks; County Public Works Director Chad Parker; Sylva Garden Club President Diane Herring; American Chestnut Foundation Board Member Doug Gillis; Sylva Mayor Maurice Moody; and Sylva Public Works Director Dan Schaeffer.

The tree, grown in Southwest Virginia, is a restoration chestnut, sixth generation and is fifteen-sixteenths American chestnut and one-sixteenth Chinese chestnut.

It has blight resistant characteristics and will reach 100 feet tall over the next century, Gillis said. It is now the 49th tree on the Sylva Tree Walk, Herring said.

https://www.thesylvaherald.com/top_stories/article_40501294-2b63-11e3-abbd-0019bb30f31a.html