American Chestnut Day

Both Richard and I have been naturalists our entire lives; we explored the outdoors as youngsters and marveled at the magic of nature before we could talk.

Both of us developed our passions into careers of connecting others to nature during college, where he gained experience in agriculture and I studied environmental science and sociology. Both of us met key people then who challenged us and helped us grow, just as we are doing through ReTreeUS today. We look back on those people and experiences now with fondness, as they have shaped who we are and the progress we have made.

My mind slipped back in time this morning to the very first botany class I ever took--a rousing lecture taught by the one-and-only Dr. Hill Craddock: enthusiastic intellectual, botanophile-extraordinaire, and a true expert on the American Chestnut tree.

I thought of Dr. Craddock when Richard asked our forester friend to identify a tree in the yard. Based on its distinguishable sharp, shiny leaves and sea-urchin pods, we knew it was in the Chestnut family. I never would have guessed it was an American Chestnut, though, because Dr. Craddock and others had taught me about the terrible Chestnut Blight, which wiped out what was once a dominant tree and abundant food source on the east coast of the United States. (Learn more about the benefits and demise of our American Chestnut forests, as well as what's being done to help, by clicking here.)

The only American Chestnuts I had ever seen were tiny relics--only a few feet tall--of the majestic forest creatures they once were. I know that the fungus blight attacks the trees before they can get very tall, so looking at this giant towering at the edge of our yard never rang any bells before.

At first, our forester friend, Rob, came to the same conclusion. "It's probably a horse chestnut," he said quickly, remembering the tree he had just noticed moments before. But when we all went outside to reexamine the specimen, Rob changed his answer. "No, that's a real Chestnut," he said.

"An American Chestnut?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Yeah, it must be blight-resistant, or there just aren't any infected trees around."

All the folklore I have heard about this tree as a hardwood, a food source, and even a way of life, for thousands of people living in the eastern U.S. before 1950, came rushing back to me. When the blight killed the Chestnut tree, it took with it a quarter of the forest in the eastern half of our country. All the hope that was lost and poverty that resulted from the extermination of this tree was devastating to the ecosystem and society at that time.

Photo of people with an old American Chestnut tree, from the American Restoration Project website.

The American Chestnut was a staple of our culture--like cell phones, Starbucks, and blogs are today--in a time when the population at large still felt some connection to the natural world. (Click here for more information on the culture of the Chestnut before it was lost.) Some might even argue that the loss of the American Chestnut may be linked to the decreased connection to our forests and to growing our own food. Some might argue that the Chestnut blight, among other factors, contributed to the indoor norm and the limited idea that food comes from a grocery store, rather than from plants.

The mission of Dr. Craddock (click his link to find chestnut recipes and other information), and many others, is to find blight-resistant trees and mix their genes with our typically-intolerant native Chestnuts, so that we might restore this American icon to its original greatness.

Our mission, at ReTreeUS, is to reconnect our culture with the natural world and to where our food comes from. And here, on the future site of the ReTreeUS nursery, we have a (relatively) giant, (perhaps) tolerant American Chestnut tree! Its species is not only an excellent food source, but also an invaluable piece of U.S. history. Our history, rich with farming and connection to the patterns of the earth, could be restored as we build our mission of sustainable agriculture and environmental education.

I happily celebrate today, August 9, as American Chestnut Day! It is a day of new hope and beginnings for the global community and the inseparable ecology thereof.

Thank you for supporting our mission, and for helping to grow a healthier planet!