Growing A Comeback: Old Mission Group Works To Restore The Once-Mighty American Chestnut

At one point there were an estimated four billion American chestnut trees in the eastern half of the country. It was said a squirrel could scurry from Georgia all the way to New England by stepping from branch to branch of this once dominant species.

This tree helped define America, with its rot-resistant, versatile wood used for railroad ties, telegraph and telephone posts and home framing as the nation expanded west. Its nuts – roasted so famously on an open fire – also provided a seemingly unlimited source of food for people and livestock.

Then, in 1904, the blight came.

“They first noticed it in the Bronx Zoo,” sighs Tom Dalluge. “It was like throwing a pebble into a still pond – it just rippled out 30 or 40 miles a year, and by 1950, they were all gone.”

While more than 99 percent of mature specimens died from this fungal infection, a few pockets of trees survived for various reasons. One of these clusters is near the very tip of Old Mission Peninsula, where 20 large trees sit on or near the Dougherty Mission House property.

Dalluge, an Old Mission resident and retiree, speaks in a reverent tone as he runs his fingers along the large, shiny, serrated leaves of a tree named “Ostlund,” estimated to be at least 130 years old.

“This tree is a survivor. It’s been struck by lightning, it’s been cut by the power company,” he tells The Ticker. “And we know it’s fought blight off in the past. We can tell by the complexion of the bark that it’s been attacked.”

There is plenty of reason to believe these particular chestnuts have a higher-than-normal degree of blight resistance, making them both special and potentially useful in the effort to eventually bring this once mighty species back to prominence in American forests.

Dalluge and a group of volunteers have worked for the past several years with three goals in mind. The first is to protect these existing trees from blight, which they do with a variety of treatments if and when it pops up. The second is to propagate these mature specimens, largely by spreading seeds and seedlings around the region and beyond.

The third goal is crossbreed these trees with other hardy, long-living American chestnuts from across the country to create trees with super blight resistance.

“If we can create a best-of-breed nut and start growing these things, we can make a difference,” Dalluge says. "The thinking is you're not going to get hundred percent resistant, but if we can get to 75 to 80% resistance and then we plant these things like crazy…we can start to bring the chestnut back.”

To this end, the local group is partnering with the American Chestnut Foundation’s Long Surviving Americans program that aims to combine the genetics of surviving mature trees to strengthen the species. Pollen is carefully collected and transported across the country for this process.

To Dalluge and the ACF, it’s the most attractive of existing efforts to bring back the American chestnut. The other two involve hybridizing with the Chinese chestnut (which results in an impure tree) and genetic modification, which has regulatory hurdles and is undesriable for other reasons.

“If the (Long Surviving Americans) program is successful, it could lead to the reintroduction of a completely American tree – no strains of Asian chestnut or genetic modification – that can improve resistance to blight and lead to broader introduction of the species,” Dalluge says.

Those hoping to learn more about these trees and the efforts to preserve and propagate them can attend a blessing of the chestnut blossoms at 1 p.m. tomorrow (Sunday, June 28) at the Dougherty Mission House at 18459 Mission Road. The blessing is set to conclude by 1:30 p.m., and volunteers will be on hand to explain the program and offer seedlings for a $25 donation. 

This is all part of the Old Mission Peninsula Historical Society’s annual Log Cabin Day event,  with more than 20 craft demonstrators at Lighthouse Park and free admission to the Dougherty Mission House.

Image: Dalluge with one of the largest chestnuts near the Doughterty House.