SUNY ESF Alumni Sponsor the Return of the American Chestnut
On April 18, test trees of American chestnut produced by the Restoration Project at ESF will be planted at an event at the New York Botanical Garden, the place where chestnut blight was first discovered in 1904. The Research Project has more than 100 varieties either in field trials or waiting to be tested. The event will include a lecture on chestnut trees at 3 p.m. followed by a planting of trees at 4:30 and a reception and dinner at 6:00 in the renovated stone mill at the garden. Fees are $31 for the lecture and $100 for the dinner. Reservations are required and sponsorships are encouraged. If you are interested contact the ESF alumni office at 315-470-6632 or alumni@esf.edu. Let’s hope this is the beginning of the return of the American chestnut tree to our eastern forests.
New York Flora Association Blog 
March 1, 2012 at 1:33 pm
A question: Are the plants you are calling “American chestnut” actually purebred individuals of that species that have been selected for resisistence to the pathogen, or have they been crossed with other Castanea spp or genetically engineered in order to obtain such resistence? I am not implying that hybridization or g.e. should not be used, or that such plants should not be used to repopulate our forests with chestnut, but it would be nice if the “new” chestnuts could have 100% genetic material from the original, indigenous populations.