Ecologists and environmentalists are hoping for a comeback of the American chestnut tree, which was wiped out by fungus decades ago.
Nestled within Duke Farms’ sprawling 2,700-acre estate among the wildflower meadows and towering trees is an experiment to reintroduce the American chestnut tree into New Jersey and ultimately the eastern forests.
“The American chestnut tree was one of the most common species in eastern forests,” said Christina Kaunzinger, senior ecologist for the Center for Urban Restoration Ecology at Rutgers University. “Here in New Jersey it made up about 15 percent of the forest and in the southern eastern forest an even larger percentage.”
In the early 1900s, trees imported from China carried a fungus that began infecting the American chestnut. By the 1950s, the blight wiped out nearly all the mature American chestnut trees. That’s why researchers from Duke Farms and Rutgers University joined forces to plant 270 trees.
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“One of the problems with reintroduction of the chestnut into eastern forests is where are you going to put it?” Kaunzinger explained.
The trees were planted in gaps in the forest created by invasive species management. That’s the process of removing plant species not native to New Jersey and replacing them with native species to create higher biodiversity. Ecologists hope this method will become a viable way to reintroduce the chestnut tree into the forest. Still that’s only half the battle. Developing a blight-resistant hybrid is fundamental to the tree’s survival.
“The American Chestnut Foundation has been conducting breeding experiments for decades, and so the most advanced blight resistant hybrid they have right now is 15/16 American chestnut and just 1/16 Chinese chestnut, so it has hopefully the blight resistance of the Chinese chestnut, but it has the height characteristics and the fruit producing quality of the American chestnut,” Kaunzinger said.
American and Chinese chestnuts were planted along with the hybrids. Some of trees are already six feet tall. Once fully grown the chestnut tree could reach 100 feet. Norah Wagner, program director of Duke Farms says the project has sparked a wave of interest beyond the environmental community.
“There seem to be a huge increase in desire to plant native plants and that includes the chestnut planting,” Wagner said. “We’ve just had an overwhelming response of people interested in being environmental stewards.”
Researchers with Duke Farms and Rutgers University won’t see the results of their experiment in terms of tree performance for at least five to 10 years. Meantime they say they will continue to monitor and maintain the trees.
Lauren Wanko reports from Hillsborough.