American Chestnut Restoration

Dr. J. Hill Craddock will share information about his current research that is focused on the restoration of the American chestnut to the Appalachian hardwood forest ecosystem and the establishment of a commercial chestnut industry in Tennessee.

The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) is considered the finest chestnut tree in the world. Before the species was devastated by the chestnut blight, it was one of the most important forest trees throughout its range in the eastern U.S. It is estimated that between 3 and 4 billion American chestnut trees were destroyed in the first half of the 20th century by blight after its initial discovery in 1904. Very few mature specimens of the tree exist within its historical range, although many small shoots of the former live trees remain.

Sponsored by the Tennessee Valley Wild Ones