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Conference proceedings are being posted on the
School of Forest Resources' Chestnut Growers page: http://chestnut.cas.psu.edu/nps.htm.
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Source: Pennsylvania Chestnut Tree Blight Commission
These healthy American chestnut trees
were photographed in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, during
the early twentieth century. |
Several Penn State faculty members, staff, and students participated
in a three-day conference about American chestnut restoration
at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, North Carolina,
in May 2004. Joining The Pennsylvania State University as sponsors
were the Chesapeake Watershed Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit
(CESU) and Southern Appalachian Mountains CESU.
Organized by Dr. Kim Steiner, professor of forest biology and
director of The Arboretum at Penn State, and Dr. John Carlson,
director of the Schatz Center in Penn State’s College of
Agricultural Sciences, the meeting was held primarily to help
the National Park Service set policy for restoring chestnut trees
to national parks, such as the Great Smoky Mountains National
Park, where the species was once abundant.
Attendees established a common understanding about current knowledge
related to chestnut and the blight; discussed the possible impacts
of restoration on Appalachian forests; and considered the potential
extent of the National Park Service's participation in a restoration
program.
Source: Tim Phelps A view of two-year-old seedlings in
the hybrid chestnut plantation in The Arboretum at Penn
State |
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Six presenters from Penn State joined nineteen scientists from
other universities, federal agencies, and private organizations
to address these issues. In addition to Dr. Steiner and Dr. Carlson,
presentations were made by Dr. Robert McKinstry, Jr., the Maurice
K. Goddard Chair in Forestry and Environmental Resources Conservation;
Mr. Matthew Diskin, a former honor student in forest science;
Mr. Song Liu, a graduate student in forest genetics; and Mr. Timothy
Phelps, research technologist who works with Penn State’s
hybrid chestnut plantations. There were approximately 85 attendees.
The conference had five technical sessions. The first highlighted
Park Service and other federal policies related to species restoration.
The second featured papers on the ecology of American chestnut
and the larger Appalachian forest ecosystem. The third provided
an overview of blight resistance technology, including backcross
breeding, hypovirulence, and transgenic technology. The fourth
addressed current knowledge of the genetics of American chestnut
and broader genetic issues related to the application of specific
resistance technologies. The final technical session covered some
of the practical aspects of actually implementing species restoration,
including the economics and practicality of planting chestnuts
on a large scale.
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Source: Pennsylvania Chestnut Tree Blight Commission A view of chestnut trees dying from
the blight in a fence row |
The final day of the conference consisted of a facilitated discussion,
led by Dr. James Finley, professor of forest resources at Penn
State, of Park Service policy issues as informed by the conference
presentations. The Park Service’s Washington office is expected
to draft guidelines based upon the outcome of the conference.
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