More good news.
An American chestnut tree has been found deep in the forests of Maine. The tree, according to an article I found at
GoodNewsNetwork, was discovered during an aerial search conducted by a team
from the University of Maine.
The tree is not only a native chestnut tree—it is at
least 100 years old, 115 feet tall, and thought to be the tallest chestnut tree
in North America.
Perhaps a bit of history is required here.
At one time, American chestnut trees swelled the great
forests along the East Coast of North America.
The chestnut was the most prominent species in the forest. A century ago, the white blossoms of these
ambitious trees were so prolific the Appalachian Mountains appeared as if
covered in snow during the week the trees came to bloom.
Today, mostly blank spots remain where the trees stood. American chestnut trees are “functionally extinct.”
In 1904, an Asian tree blight was accidentally
released in to the North American landscape.
A massive die-off swept through the population of chestnut trees in both
the United States and Canada. Billions
of trees perished.
The tree in Maine is a big deal.
This tree and a sparse handful of other pre-blight
survivors (numbering only in the dozens) are thought to be genetically unique. They appear to be immune to the disease that
wiped out so many other trees. The hope
is that the survivors may provide breeding stock with DNA that will save the
species.
The hope: from one tree many.
--Mitchell
Hegman
Sources:
GoodNewsNetwork.com and AmericanForests.org
I saw my first chestnut trees in Paris. They were pretty. To propagate, the chestnut trees will have to contend with a lot of possible "enemies," such as GMOs, climate change, unscrupulous loggers, to name a few.
ReplyDeleteAs with most things, we are (intentionally or not) enemy number one.
ReplyDeleteYep! Paradoxically, we are our own enemy. Whoever was the Grand Designer made a design flaw. Either that or there was something intentional and the thought of that really scares me!
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