Appalachian Surface Mines Provide a Unique Setting for the Return of the American Chestnut: full article at http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/688
By Christopher Barton, Michael French, Songlin Fei, Kathryn Ward, Robert Paris, Patrick Angel
Chestnut burs, or casings, split open as the fruit reaches maturity. In the Appalachian mountain region, the loss of the American chestnut, along with the visible scars of coal-related surface mining, have had a doubly devastating effect. However, it is in viewing these two ecological disasters together that the possibility of a solution emerges. King of the Forest: The forests of eastern North America were once home to the American chestnut, a hardwood species so large that it came to be known as the “redwood of the east.” These giants averaged several feet in diameter and could attain heights greater than 100 feet tall, and some were much larger. The largest reported chestnut was found in Francis Cove, North Carolina, and measured 17 feet in diameter. So dominant was this tree that it grew in pure stands up to 100 acres, numbered in the billions, and accounted for nearly one out of every four trees throughout its range. The American chestnut was a superb timber producer. It grew straight and fast, and often produced three or four 16-foot logs before the first branch was reached. Chestnut timber was prized due to its straightness, beauty, workability, and resistance to rot. These characteristics made it useful for fence posts, railroad ties, telegraph poles, and building construction, as well as furniture and musical instruments. So numerous were its uses that it has been referred to as a “cradle to the grave” species, because one’s crib and casket might both have been constructed from chestnut wood. As a nut producer, chestnut was unrivalled. Unlike other nut-producing trees such as beech and oak, which flower early, chestnuts flower in late spring and early summer, when the blooms are in no danger from frost, so every year the trees produced a nut crop that could be relied upon by humans and wildlife alike. Each fall, the trees bore an abundant crop of small, sweet nuts that were consumed by rodents, raccoons, bears, turkey, grouse, deer, livestock, and people. Railroad cars were loaded with bushels of chestnuts that were shipped to cities so that pedestrians could purchase freshly roasted chestnuts from street vendors. Farmers turned their hogs loose in the hills so that they could fatten up on the chestnut crop, which not only added to their weight but also lent the pork a sweeter flavor. Virtually everyone in Appalachia, the heart of the chestnut’s range, has a story about this once-mighty tree. The American chestnut was so universally known and loved that more than 900 places in its natural range were named after it (e.g., Chestnut Ridge, Chestnut Run, and Chestnut Church), not to mention the numerous Chestnut Streets found throughout the United States.
http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/688
By Christopher Barton, Michael French, Songlin Fei, Kathryn Ward, Robert Paris, Patrick Angel
Chestnut burs, or casings, split open as the fruit reaches maturity. In the Appalachian mountain region, the loss of the American chestnut, along with the visible scars of coal-related surface mining, have had a doubly devastating effect. However, it is in viewing these two ecological disasters together that the possibility of a solution emerges. King of the Forest: The forests of eastern North America were once home to the American chestnut, a hardwood species so large that it came to be known as the “redwood of the east.” These giants averaged several feet in diameter and could attain heights greater than 100 feet tall, and some were much larger. The largest reported chestnut was found in Francis Cove, North Carolina, and measured 17 feet in diameter. So dominant was this tree that it grew in pure stands up to 100 acres, numbered in the billions, and accounted for nearly one out of every four trees throughout its range. The American chestnut was a superb timber producer. It grew straight and fast, and often produced three or four 16-foot logs before the first branch was reached. Chestnut timber was prized due to its straightness, beauty, workability, and resistance to rot. These characteristics made it useful for fence posts, railroad ties, telegraph poles, and building construction, as well as furniture and musical instruments. So numerous were its uses that it has been referred to as a “cradle to the grave” species, because one’s crib and casket might both have been constructed from chestnut wood. As a nut producer, chestnut was unrivalled. Unlike other nut-producing trees such as beech and oak, which flower early, chestnuts flower in late spring and early summer, when the blooms are in no danger from frost, so every year the trees produced a nut crop that could be relied upon by humans and wildlife alike. Each fall, the trees bore an abundant crop of small, sweet nuts that were consumed by rodents, raccoons, bears, turkey, grouse, deer, livestock, and people. Railroad cars were loaded with bushels of chestnuts that were shipped to cities so that pedestrians could purchase freshly roasted chestnuts from street vendors. Farmers turned their hogs loose in the hills so that they could fatten up on the chestnut crop, which not only added to their weight but also lent the pork a sweeter flavor. Virtually everyone in Appalachia, the heart of the chestnut’s range, has a story about this once-mighty tree. The American chestnut was so universally known and loved that more than 900 places in its natural range were named after it (e.g., Chestnut Ridge, Chestnut Run, and Chestnut Church), not to mention the numerous Chestnut Streets found throughout the United States.
http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/688
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