Chestnut Trees Are Returning to Forests 

in 1967 my father planted American chestnuts provided by the University of Wisconsin. Fifity years later we have 5 mature chestnuts that have served as backcross stock for the breeding program

they want $300 for chestnut seed. they should be sending these seeds out all over the US free.

As a kid in the 60-70s my grandfather had several chestnut trees on his farm. There’s no more trees, but I didn’t know why they had died. Today the farm belongs to me. I want to plant chestnut trees before I give the farm to my kids

55 years ago while deer hunting in high knob Virginia, my dad and a friend of mine, when hunting in an unfamiliar area, found a chestnut tree stump about 10 feet tall with an opening inside that the three of us sat inside of the tree and shot at a deer,. It was at least 10 feet in diameter. Dad, born in 1923, said that they were much larger than the one that we sat in. He said there were large stands of the huge trees. He also said the woods had large open areas in that the overhead leave canopy of the chestnut trees prohibited other trees from growing underneath. He said that could easily kill a dozen squirrels sitting at one place in a morning’s hunt. He said they gathered tubs of chestnuts. Thank you for what you are doing!!!

I’m so glad that the American Chestnut trees coming back to our mountains. Thank you for the work on bringing those trees back.

I live in a 300 year old home in CT. Chestnut beam Chestnut floors. What an amazing building material.. And very rot resistant like the man said. I would love to see the return of these great trees.

I think I am most impressed by the length of the efforts behind this. An organization 50 years old dedicated to a single noble mission stands in stark contrast to the profit-driven organizations in the business world. A big thank you to the people who have quietly and earnestly dedicated their lives to this important work, the results of which they may never see finished.

As a wee Ladd. My grandfather worked the coal mines in Tioga County New York. We lived on Chestnut street in a town called Owego. Was famous for the hundreds of chestnut trees that lined the street for blocks. My grandfather took me as a youngster with him to collect chestnuts. He had a pedal cart. We would take them downtown and roast them in the cart. We sold them for 5 cents a bag to the workers. I miss him a lot.

The "American Chestnut Tree" produced some of most beautiful wood in the world. IMHO, and I say this as a carpenter with 40 years experience having had the honor to work with reclaimed chestnut from long ago. Welcome back!

Hearing that there's a breeding program to combat Emerald Ash Borer is very encouraging. I wasn't aware that anyone cared, and all the ash trees in my home of Upstate NY are dying off from EAB now.

I'm in Fredericksburg and one of the first things I did when we bought our house 15 years ago was to plant an American Chestnut in our yard, along with several other trees. It took awhile to get established but it eventually did and stands about 30' tall today. Between it and our Eastern White Walnut, we have some very happy squirrels here.

I’m from East Tennessee…born and raised and never lived anywhere else. The chestnut trees dying didn’t effect me when I was younger but now it breaks my heart…and here’s why. The Cherokee people actually called the Smokies…The Great White Mountains. They called them that because of the chestnut blooms in spring. The trees were so gigantic that the ridges looked like they were covered in snow but it was actually the white blooms of the chestnut that made them appear that way. That story breaks my heart because I didn’t get to see it. I can’t even talk about it without feeling like I’m just gonna cry. It’s just such a horrible shame it happened. Same for the hemlocks…breaks my heart to see their ghosts on the hillsides.

These men are heroes for what they're doing

My Dad would be so happy to have heard this news. He was SO in awe of the American Chestnut tree. It was a whole different life back in the day of the A. Chestnut. Livestock rambled the land freely and the impact on animal and plant life was huge. The "mast" was so abundant that wildlife flourished. My parents said that the pork was wonderfully tasty. He loved to work with the harvested chestnut lumber.

I'm the son and grandson of loggers - my Pap and dad. Pap was born in the '30's, and he would tell stories about the American Chestnuts, and cutting the lumber and working with it as well, since he ran the family sawmill in PA as well. He loved the wood, thought it was beautiful, and it broke Pap's heart when the blight ravaged through central PA forests. My Dad remembers the last of the chestnuts in the area as well. Dad and I talk a lot about the forests, even though Dad finally got out of the woods working a few years ago, and he's been worried for a long time about the state of the Ash, Hemlock, Oak, and others, and remembers when the Elm blight went through as well. I still remember great swath's of mountain near where I grew up that had huge gaps and skeletal trees in them, with tons of scrubby undergrowth and pines filling in what used to be Elm groves - this was the 80's, when the Dutch Elm blight was at its peak. Recently, I've been saddened watching a couple of my own favorite trees, the Ash and the Hemlock, struggle and die in huge numbers, leaving their skeletons in huge groves around the forests. It's very encouraging to see the hard work by both the American Chestnut Foundation and the American Chestnut Research & Restoration Project at SUNY ESF start to bear fruit, literally. The replanting of the Chestnut has started in PA already, there are test stands of these new crosses started in several sections in central PA. I'm encouraged that the forests I remember growing up in will be better than I remember them as a boy.

My father was born in WV in 1927 and would occasionally speak of his boyhood and these wonderful trees. We lost him in 2019 but I'm sure he'd be delighted with this news.

This is so exciting. I live in a well maintained log cabin here in New Jersey that was built with chestnut logs (they were harvested from the mountain right behind my house). The house was built in the 1920s. I’ve heard tell of how eventually all the chestnut trees died due to the blight and the mountain was bare of trees until other species had the chance to grow in the empty spaces. I’ve always dreamed of a time when we could bring the American Chestnut back to the mountains here. How exciting that it may soon become a reality. Thanks for all of your hard work. I would be very happy to join your organization and support the process.

I had no idea what had happened to the chestnuts until my botany 101 professor opened my eyes to the blight many decades ago. It is good to see the restoration work progressing so well.

I'm 1 year late to see this on my feed. All I can say is that this is absolutely amazing ! The amount of wildlife that these trees supported at one time is staggering.

How wonderful! I wish Elm trees could have been saved. I remember we had two huge Elms on either side of our front walkway. My father cried when they had to be “condemned” and cut down back in the 1950’s.

During my long career as a furniture maker, I've worked with many woods from around the world. Chestnut (my local variety that is free from the blight where I live) is one of my favorites, a wonderful strong hardwood that is very valuable in the way it is workable and stable when dried, and also in it's beautiful appearance, both when freshly worked and in the way that the appearance quietly ages over time. Hopefully one day the tree will be in such abundance that woodworkers can again utilize the fine material.

There are photos of chestnut trees that were absolute monsters. More than twice the size that you said they grow

It kills me, but when I was a kid in central Ohio the 1980's, there was a house with an enormous chestnut tree down the street from us. It was at least 3 feet in diameter and produced nuts of the size shown in this video - kids from all over the neighborhood would pick them up from the lawn when they fell. I find it hard to believe that it was an American chestnut, but it doesn't really make sense that it would have been a foreign variety based on its age and the nuts it produced. Some idiot cut it down ~1990 after buying the place and disliking the burrs in the yard.

I've been following the progress of the American Chestnut Foundation for 20 years. I'm on the Great Lakes, so I wasn't very familiar with their work until I happened across it while looking up tree identification. I just wanted to know what kind of tree was growing on the edge of the pond in my backyard, and ended up supporting the American Chestnut Project.

Memories. New York City in the 1960s around Christmas time with roasted chestnut vendor carts on street corners. My father buying a bag and handing them to me and my brothers. The smell, the taste, how they warmed our mittens, and, of course, Nat King Cole song Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire. Great work!

The house where I grew up was built by my grandfather in 1912 and all the woodwork; the front door, door frames, window sills, even 2 sets of sliding doors was chestnut, which made the house quite unique. And valuable.

My ancestors came to western Virginia from Ireland in the late 1700's and built their homestead which still stands to this day (and is lived in)... and it was built entirely from native American chestnut. Even today, over 100 years after the blight wiped out these trees, you can still find remains in the woodlands of Appalachia.

We've lost so many incredible plants to invasive species and pathogens. Seeing all the work that goes into preservation, conservation, and restoration by various teams is a delight.

This is wonderful news! We had a big chestnut tree in our side yard when I was a little girl. The neighborhood kids would come to our house for “chestnut wars!” If you think snowball fights are bad you’ve never been beaned by a chestnut burr! Thank you. This makes me smile! 😊

I'm so glad to see the work they're doing is paying off! Growing up, my dad always used to tell me how a squirrel could go from Georgia to Maine on chestnut trees without ever touching the ground. I can't wait until they're back in full force.

Back about 1960 in NJ, when I was a Boy Scout, we camped next to a grove with a big tree trunks on the ground. When we cut one up for firewood, we found they had the most amazing straight grain. Eventually, I realized they were chestnuts.

I still remember the reactions of my Dad and my rural relatives to the demise of the American chestnut trees in the East. They were distressed and depressed. And, at that time, the common belief was that these trees were simply gone forever. Fini. End. Forever. This is just a delightful, unexpected, story that deserves to be publicized. My Dad and my relatives are all gone now, but I am sure they would have been ecstatic with this story.

Since I was a boy I have seen the remains of the American chestnut trees in the mountains around me. My Dad explained to me what happened long ago and it really bothered him that they all died. He said he saw many big trees die in the forest. To this day I see new growth sprouting in the forest where I live that will grow to point and than die.

In Yuba county, CA there is a small grove of American Chestnuts that, because they were isolated, were not impacted by the blight. A farmer had transplanted them many years before. For years university scientists would come to study the chestnuts and collect their nuts. I no longer live there, so I don't know who owns the grove now. I knew the owners back in the 1980s, and each fall they would sell chestnuts both raw and roasted. I visited there a couple of years ago, and the grove is still there, but it doesn't look as cared for as it was in the 80s and 90s.

My neighbor has 2 of these trees on his property that was planted by his father 45 years ago, after watching your channel I noticed them and just collected some of the nuts to teach my grandchildren about them ! Thanks for your educational videos!

I remember when I was a kid in a Philadelphia suburb a huge chestnut tree up the street, We used to love the burrs, seeds and smell of the chestnuts. I hope they continue to grow and thrive! Thank you!

When I was a child in the 1970's growing up in Wisconsin, I remember seeing Chestnut trees here and there in our state. Most were brought in by settlers over a century ago, but they were few and far between. From what I remember, luckily they were in an area that blight didn't seem to affect them so far north. I think those trees when I was a kid helped serve as part of the program to do this. They were some of the last remaining American Chestnut trees in the world.

This is one of the most heartening videos I have ever watched. It almost brings tears to my eyes! So much good work, for so long, by so many people! Thank you for this video.🙏

I've a friend with a 1740 log cabin, made from Chestnut logs. Thanks for the education.

We just discovered several American Chestnuts growing from stumps on our Highland County, VA property at 3300'. According to the forester with me, he saw evidence of blight, but I still hope one or more will survive!

I've planted four Dunstan American Chestnuts on my property in Georgia. They're five years old and just beginning to produce well.

This is fantastic! I live in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. At the time of the battle, the most numerous tree on the battlefield was the American Chestnut. The blight killed them all. But today, the National Park Service has done a lot of work to try to return the battlefield to it’s 1863 appearance. I wonder if they are following your work?

Glad to see that-When I was a boy, and visited Appallacia, I noticed there were still smaller trees, but learned they would die of blight after a few more seasons. I thought , at that time, "at least we are preserving the variety- if only we could defeat the virus". I am glad to see we are on the way

Chestnut was important for moonshiners as well. It doesn’t put out a lot of smoke when burned making the shiners operation harder to detect. I remember my grandparents telling stories of people waking up to new split rail fences. The old fence was made from chestnut. When the chestnut wood became scarce people scavenged it wherever they could find it. And if you were lucky people would replace the fence with locust. If you weren’t liked, chances are you wouldn’t get a new fence in the middle of the night. Much like Brazilian rosewood today. But when propane gas became easily available the shiners switched to it and didn’t have to worry about the smoke giving away the location of their stills.

This makes me so happy. Seeing the ash trees dying around me is very depressing. I hope with selective breeding techniques we can restore the ash trees as well as bring back the American Chestnut and the Elm trees which we sadly lost.

I heard stories of the giant American chestnut trees from my great grandmother . So glad This team is working to get them back I would love to plant them on our property in western Tennesee

Can’t wait to see these trees make a comeback. They might not fully come back in my lifetime but I look forward to seeing these monstrous trees.

OMG!!! This is the best news ever!!! I was so heartbroken when I learned about the great dying of the American chestnut tree. I can't wait to see these blight resistant American chestnut trees back in the Appalachian forests!!!!!!! Much much love and success ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Awesome seeing these hardwoods come back.

Beautiful wood. The cabinetry and trim in my parents home in NW PA was almost exclusively made from early blight Chestnut. It is tight grained, beautiful wood! Glad to see people are trying to bring it back!

Organizations like this should be receiving funding in place of so many failed government programs. Great job getting it done anyway folks! God bless you and your amazing work!

Where I grew up in West Virginia we had an American Chestnut in our yard. I still remember as a kid stepping on some of the burrs in my bare feet. Ouch! That was in the early 70's. That tree was gone by the 80's, if I recall correctly. I've been patiently watching the progress of the different cross breeding programs around the country in hopes of being able to plant my own chestnut trees one day. Thank you for all the hard work to restore this once great tree.

Let's get them up into Pennsylvania soon. Great work team.

I have a memory as a little kid in my grandparents yard, seeing this big old dead tree with a whole bunch of shoots coming out the base. Mom told me all about the American Chestnut history. I think I was 3 or 4, one of my earliest memories.

Loosing the American Chestnut was heartbreaking. Thank you for what you are doing to bring back the American Chestnut Tree!!

Thank you so much for taking the time and putting forth the effort to bring the American chestnut back.

I’m only just now realizing that the big tree in my grandmothers backyard must’ve been American Chestnut. That house had been in the family since before my father was born (so at least the 50s). It made the whole backyard feel small and dropped so many burrs that there were squirrels in the yard basically 24/7. The house was sold a few years ago when my grandma started having health problems and couldn’t live on her own anymore so I don’t know if the tree is still standing but I hope it is

This isn't bringing back the American Chestnut 🌰 tree, it's bringing in a hybrid that has more of the American physiological traits. Is there any effort in trying to destroy the blight itself and bring back pure American Chestnut 🌰 trees?

awesome, It's such a shame we never got to experience chestnut trees because of blight, but this looks promising and I hope it spreads across the US! (or at least in the East Coast)

Here in MI my neighbor and I have several chestnut trees. One fairly mature about 16” in diameter on their property and the rest are no doubt offspring of that tree scattered on both our properties. Nice to see them coming back. Ash is also making a comeback, but mostly in the northern part of the lower part.

Bless Y'all for this work!! It's amazing to get the wonderful American Chestnut to thrive again. I live in Virginia too and proud you are establishing this in our beautiful state. Take care my friends ❤️

i only learned about this situation a couple years ago and in turn the wonderful history of the American Chestnut Tree and have been just loosely following it since. in these divisive times we are currently going through it would absolutely warm my heart if this blight could be stopped and these beautiful American trees make a comeback to the forests where they belong.

I failed at growing a European Chestnut 🌰 and I have three small Dunstan Chestnut growing, and I hope they all survive a long time.

Oh, I loved this program! I am from the Indo-Pak region, and having crossed my 80th, I would like to see nothing better than to have the luck to see the Chestnut make a comeback in the great country of my adoption. America is filled to the brim with amazing dedicated people who care for nature and who are striving to see its pristine natural treasures restored and protected. Good luck with this work. ❤❤❤

Thank you for doing this! God bless you and your future generations! My family used to be in the European Chestnut business, and the awful story of the American Chestnut made me cry in Phytopathology class for real! My legendary Great Grandpa, who became French after WWI and lost his job as the German Kayser's forestry assessor, went into the forestry business on his own and introduced the European Chestnut to the newly "refrenched" Alsatian landscape, for its wood which was needed by the local coopers. The descendants of the trees he planted still grace the upper reaches of the Alsatian foothills, and can be seen mostly on the Red Sandstone ones. In those Northern climes, they do not reach the girth and the longevity or their Rhodanian brethren, and they produce fruits which are quite small, but, oh my, they sure are sweet! The local fauna has taken a liking to them as well, and many nuts harbor one or two plump, pink weevil larvae. When we were kids, we used to sit in the kitchen peeling Chestnuts, feeding ourselves as well as our Goldfish, which had never read about his species being mostly herbivorous...

Way to go guys. I joined 25 years ago or so but was busy raising kids and have not had much time to volunteer. Retirement is coming so I may be knocking on the doors of AMF to see if they need orchard workers.

A lot of great progress is being made and inoculation really can do wonders. In WV we are doing plenty of it whenever we find chestnuts and some are reaching the point of producing viable seed. It really is as simple as pressing a hole into the tree, putting the inoculum in, and covering it up.

One of the great treats that I had working in China were the street vendors selling roasted chestnuts. The great American lyrics "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" I never knew how they tasted in the USA.

Y’all are doing the Lord’s work. Welcome back American Chestnut!!!!

Thank you so much for doing this great work. I rented a house in Va in the 80’s that had a small American chestnut tree. The nuts were soo good! Much tastier than the ones in the market. I am glad the American Chestnut will be returning to the landscape.

I remember hearing the story of the sad plight of the American Chestnut back in 1994. I was staying at a youth hostel in Virginia and the den furniture included pieces stamped “LOS” for live oak standing and “WC” for wormy chestnut. The hostel manager, John Vassar, explained to me how the American tree was threatened and making a last stand in Michigan with cross breeding efforts ongoing. This was an an excellent update and an effort fully worth our support!

I live in the central VA foothills. I'm curious whether you're also working on reintroducing chinquapins that were also pretty much wiped out by the blight. We used to have those and chestnuts all around when I was growing up. So sad they're no longer here. Chinquapins were such a wonderful treat while out on a walk..

I've been a bunch of places in the world, and Virginia is the second most beautiful I can think of. (I'm sorry, the Swiss Alps are just too spectacular) Awesome to see them coming back.

This is wonderful news! To be able to have more of these beautiful and useful trees back in the forests! What a wonderful plan! 💕💕

1 in 4 trees in the eastern US forests were once chestnut. The largest ecological disaster in forestry history may now become one of the greatest restoration efforts and success stories thanks to you!

This is wonderful news. When I was a boy, I lived on Elm Avenue. There are thousands of Elm Avenues and Chestnut Streets in America. As a young lover of nature, it was heartbreaking to my young mind to learn that all the Chestnut and Elm trees were already gone by the time I came along. Thank you nature for being so resilient and for tolerating us-- despite our constant neglect and flagrant abuse. 🌳🌳

Great interview and amazing program. I admire their patience. Way to play the long game. I hope they partner with hog/turkey farmers for their pastures

My Dad planted 2 Chestnut trees on our property 40 years ago. He loved roasted Chestnuts because the trees were on his family farm growing up. What we couldn’t eat we sold to the new Chinese restaurants opening up in Williamsburg, VA. We always had Chestnuts in our Turkey dressing at Christmas and Thanksgiving! Glad to see them returning to Virginia. I would like to see an increase in the Dogwood trees. They have not faired too well over the past years and they are so beautiful!

Fantastic! More trees less plastic! Save a tree! Save our World 🌎!

I would love to have a few seedlings to plant on my property! I grew up eating chestnuts from my Grandparents trees. They're so delicious!!!

Chestnuts were very important for honey bees. The loss of chestnuts has not been made up, and is one of the reasons in my opinion that honey bees are suffering.

How refreshing to click on a bit of news that isn't tragic. Thank you for the smile you put across my tired and weary face. :)

Love all the wonderful comments about people's experiences with these trees. And to see what they're doing to bring this great tree back- Heart warming. Also, if anyone's read The Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, if I remember correctly one chapter is about Almanzo Wilder's family picking chestnuts in the fall that grew abundantly in upstate New York.

Thank you Sir for your and all the volunteers dedication and hard work.

We have a large chestnut tree in our yard in Wisconsin, it’s a great tree!

I like that he shows the difference between the different varieties of tree.

This is wonderful work that you all are doing-kudos! I wish you continued success in bringing back the chestnut trees to our forests. Also, this genetic breeding brings much hope for the other species you mentioned. Hope that will also include the flowering dogwood!

So interesting and great to hear positive news about such an important part of the ecology of the woods/forest.

That's amazing! Give huge kudos and thanks to your father. Truly a man ahead of his time.

So very excited about your work to overcome chestnut blight and return chestnut trees to Virginia forests. This is AWESOME news!!!!

I believe there are still a couple of chestnut trees in an old Forest Service arboreteum above Carson WA. The arboreteum was planted in the 30s and the trees were marked. It's no longer maintained and is now owned by the county. I think the altitude is high enough to keep the blight away. If you move seedings down, they get blight.

Thank you God for creating humans who are restoring trees throughout America!

Proud ACF member with two American Chestnut Colonies in my forest in Pennsylvania

So nice to see people help bring back this beautiful tree!

I remember seeing old chestnut snags on ridges/woods and they would be twice as tall as any living trees around them

Thank you for showing us the great work these people are doing!

I remember as a kid in the 50's seeing these trees, stepping on those seed pods and wondering what was going on with the sap bleeding from the blight fungus. Never realizing what was happening at the time. Later worked with some fine craftsmen up north who contracted with a group in the Carolina's to retrieve dead chestnut trees in the forest to make window & door trim for a house we were building. We made our own trim back then. I am so glad to see this program working so well.

Simply amazing! I want to thank you for reforesting the America chestnut trees.

I am so glad to hear the American Chestnut trees are coming back. I have about 100 board feet of original American Chestnut for sale.

High quality conversation: Intelligent, informative and "on-point" (concise). Logical and clearly explained. Very important work. All these temperate regions need more healthy ecosystem forests. I was going to ask: Are the chestnuts still palatible to the wild animals? Could test that by feeding? I was going to ask also, however the video at the end answered, concerning new strains of blight or disease and working on resistances to those. Hopefully the super-cross-breeding between strains between orchards can succeed. Thank you very much for the video which was high quality to view and learn about. Best to the people working on this.