Well, the quick answer to this question is no, they are not. In fact, pure American chestnut trees can still be found out in the woods of Kentucky! However, they are often only small in size and may be too young or small to produce nuts. These "wild" trees tend to be sprouts from existing root systems of chestnut trees that have been killed by the blight.
In an ongoing cycle, the living root systems will send up a sprout which may remain small and suppressed in the shade of the other trees for many years. Upon a disturbance, such as a fire, windstorm or even a human cause disturbance such as a timber sale, the small tree will take off in growth once it has more light getting to it! Sometimes these will get large enough to flower and produce nuts, but at other times they may succumb to blight before they even begin to flower.
There are some people making the effort to grow pure American chestnut trees, mostly just for their own pleasure. One person doing this in Bullitt County, KY, is Kerrin Hester. Mr. Hester has grown a variety of pure American trees from nuts he has obtained from various locations, including Kentucky, Virginia and Maine.
Kerrin has been growing this small orchard for the past four years. Many of the trees are showing signs of producing male flowers and there are high hopes that some female flowers will be produced this year. Kerrin is looking forward to getting his first nuts from the orchard!
Some of the trees are well over 20' tall! As you can see to the left, Mr. Hester is around 6' tall, but he is dwarfed by the beautiful American chestnut trees around him.If you are interested in finding out more about American chestnut trees and efforts to restore them to our Eastern forests, visit The American Chestnut Foundation's website at TACF and consider joining in the efforts!
Like most things in life, Mr. Hester has encountered a few challenges with his orchard. Deer enjoy nibbling on the lower branches of the trees. Now that the terminal buds are above deer browse height, that isn't a real concern.
Another vector recently encountered within the orchard is the introduced Ambrosia beetle.
Several trees showed signs of beetle infestations this spring. Those trees have since died.
An Ambrosia beetle exit hole near the top of the photo, along with frass "tubes" coming out several other holes.
And, of course, several trees have shown signs of blight, but so far have not died from this.
So, now you know that the American chestnut tree is not extinct and can still be found throughout much of its historic range, as well as planted and grown. However, the USDA classifies American chestnut as "functionally extinct." This is due to the lack of mature trees producing viable nuts.
Efforts by The American Chestnut Foundation, The American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation and other organizations will hopefully succeed in making this tree no longer "functionally extinct" in the woodlands of the eastern US.
And, of course, several trees have shown signs of blight, but so far have not died from this.
So, now you know that the American chestnut tree is not extinct and can still be found throughout much of its historic range, as well as planted and grown. However, the USDA classifies American chestnut as "functionally extinct." This is due to the lack of mature trees producing viable nuts.
Efforts by The American Chestnut Foundation, The American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation and other organizations will hopefully succeed in making this tree no longer "functionally extinct" in the woodlands of the eastern US.
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