This month, Bill and Steve look into the fall and (potential) rise of the American chestnut (Castanea dentata), and they’re joined by Erik Danielson, Stewardship Coordinator of the Western NY Land Conservancy. The Conservancy recently embarked on an effort to acquire the Allegany Wildlands, a unique piece of property that harbors, among its many abundant ecological treasures, remnant American chestnuts. Erik guides Bill and Steve through the property, and, in part 1 of this episode, they discuss the history of the chestnut and the blight that caused its downfall.
The episode was recorded on August 14, 2021 at the Allegany Wildlands.
Episode Notes
During the episode, Bill mentioned the corn geneticist Charles Burnham and wondered if he was one of the founders of The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF). He was! From the TACF’s Wikipedia page: “TACF was founded in 1983 by a group of prominent plant scientists, including Nobel Prize-winning plant breeder Norman Borlaug; Peter Raven, Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden; independent chestnut researcher Philip Rutter; and the late Charles Burnham, a Minnesota corn geneticist.
00:00 - Intro
03:57 - The Western New York Land Conservancy & land trusts
13:07 - The Allegany Wildlands & Eastern Wildway Project
24:30 - The Salamanca Reentrant
37:28 - The Sluga Family
40:33 - The American Chestnut
56:56 - The Chestnut Blight
01:05:32 - Outro
Links to the Western NY Land Conservancy
Visit the website of the Western New York Land Conservancy to find out more about their vital conservation efforts.
Find out more about the Allegany Wildlands, including the efforts to preserve it.
Explore the WNY Land Conservancy’s Western New York Wildway, their ambitious new initiative to create an extensive series of protected lands that connect the vast forests of northern Pennsylvania to the Great Lakes, central NY, the Adirondacks, and beyond.
Other Episode-related Links
A one-page primer on Conservation Easements
The book that Erik mentioned was Champion: The Comeback Tale of the American Chestnut Tree
The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) – sign up for their newsletter or consider joining the organization.
Check out TACF’s page on their 3BUR approach to reintroducing the American chestnut.
For up-to-date info on the Darling 58 tree and related efforts to restore the American chestnut, visit the chestnut site at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
For more info on the Darling 58 chestnut tree, check out the video: Bringing Back an American Icon
The Wildlands Network - the group responsible for initially identifying the four “Continental Wildways” traversing the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines, the Canadian Boreal Forest region, and the “Spine of the Continent” between Alaska and Mexico.
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Works Cited
Aucott, M. and Parker, R.A., 2021. Medical biotechnology as a paradigm for forest restoration and introduction of the transgenic American chestnut. Conservation Biology, 35(1), pp.190-196.
Candeias, M. (2017) In Defense of Plants: Ep. 107 - Chestnut Blight: Causes and Solutions [Podcast]. May 7, 2017. Available at: https://www.indefenseofplants.com/podcast/2017/5/7/ep-107-chestnut-blight-causes-and-solutions (Accessed 7 August, 2021).
Candeias, M. (2017) In Defense of Plants: Ep. 272 - Restoring the American Chestnut [Podcast]. July 5, 2020. Available at: https://www.indefenseofplants.com/podcast/2020/7/5/ep-272-restoring-the-american-chestnut?fbclid=IwAR08lmeHJwDK-vkbDuyC7YBx22mKtNEoApwibbpGG-U1Plf_ciXZDXjhiNE (Accessed 7 August, 2021).