Under a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.
—The Village Smithy, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


The village smithy may not make a comeback anytime soon but the American chestnut – once the king of eastern forests – may soon reclaim its throne thanks to a partnership between the Office of Surface Mining and the American Chestnut Foundation.

OSM and state agencies are encouraging the repopulation of chestnut trees at coal mines that were reclaimed under the oversight of the agency.

The American chestnut once dominated eastern forests: a quarter of the trees in from Maine to Florida and west the Ohio Valley were American chestnuts. Now the stately tree is a few stands shy of being extinct.

However, one day in the near future you may find yourself on a forest walk skirting the wide, 100-foot high trees.

“Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”

The American chestnut was more than a Christmas icon in a Mel Tormé hit. It’s sweet nut was considered the best tasting of all chestnuts. The nuts were shipped by the boxcar to large cities where they were – of course – roasted by street vendors on an open fire.

But the nut was not why the tree was an economic powerhouse. The hardwood lumber's natural resistance to decay and insects, as well as its beauty and strength, made it a favorite for construction and furniture making.

The trees were also important to wildlife: deer, birds and others feasted on the plentiful chestnuts.

For all its strengths, the American chestnut was no match for a fungus from Asia. From an estimated 4 billion trees standing in the early 1900s, only a handful remained by the 1950s, and many of those were deformed, with a scrub-like appearance.

The American Chestnut Foundation has been working for more than 25 years to develop a blight-resistant American chestnut it hopes will restore the grand monarch of the eastern woodlands.

To accomplish this ACF crossbred American chestnuts with chestnuts from Asia, where trees have developed a resistance to the blight. These hybrids were then bred with healthy American chestnuts to get an almost-pure American chestnut, but one that retained the blight resistance of its Asian ancestors.

A Feat of Epic Proportions

 To accomplish such a feat, the ACF had to use American chestnut trees from the trees’ original region to ensure genetic diversity. When they brought the trees back to reintroduce them to the eastern forests they had to constantly test to ensure that only seeds with the resistant traits were retained. Periodically, they had to cross-breed using other American-Chinese hybrid trees to ensure the resistant trait remained viable in the tree.

It takes nearly 20 years of continuous crossbreeding to get a resistant American chestnut that qualifies to be a parent for reforestation efforts.

Once they have these parent trees, ACF’s goal will be to collect thousands of seeds to ensure a viable reforestation effort. In the forest, large numbers of seeds help ensure survival as the trees face competition from grasses, other trees, and wildlife.

But even if you have thousands of seeds and seedlings, they are of no use if you don’t have the acreage needed to let them flourish.

Office of Surface Mining to the Rescue

OSM oversees the reclamation of surface coal mines, many of which are located in the American chestnut’s former kingdom. The agency is perfectly positioned to offer those companies the option of helping the American chestnuts rebound.

According to Patrick Angel, an OSM forester, these coal mines offer several advantages for large-scale chestnut repopulation. “Because the sites are surrounded by millions of acres of forest, the wildlife will spread the American chestnut seeds from reclamation areas to neighboring forests. This allows nature to repopulate the Alleghenies with the American chestnut,” Angel said.

As well, the soil replaced on reclaimed coal mine sites is sterilized of the microorganisms which cause the chestnut blight by attacking the trees roots. “These trees are bred to be blight resisted,” Angel explained. “But being planted in soil free of these microorganisms give the trees several years to establish themselves before being stressed by the blight.”

To boost the tree’s comeback chances, OSM is turning to another partner, the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative. ARRI brings together academics, foresters, citizens, government agencies and coal industry officials to develop successful practices for reforesting reclaimed mines.

Science and Practical Application Merge to Save the American Chestnut

ARRI merges the findings of leading scientists with the real-world experience of foresters, landowners and coal operators to ensure that the best practices are used to reforest former surface coal mines.

“Our experiments show that the American chestnut grows very fast on mine spoil when prepared properly,” Angel said. “Within a very short time we can have large plantations of American chestnuts.”

In the past, traditional mine reforestation called for the soil to be heavily compacted. Then a heavy bed of grasses was put down on the site. This was done to prevent water runoff. ARRI’s research found that trees struggle to send down roots in overly hardened ground. While its roots are struggling to grow, the tree is overwhelmed by the thick grasses competing for nutrients.

ARRI also found that restricting the compacting and the grass seeds ultimately ensures that the American chestnut – and many other trees – are not overwhelmed by competition for resources.

“Using this approach, trees not only grow faster than using traditional reclamation techniques, but they grow faster than is seen in the natural reforestation process,” Angel said. “And when done properly, water runoff is less than with the heavy compaction of traditional reclamation process.

“The number of blight resistant seedlings is extremely limited,” Angel added. “That makes every seedling critical. We have to give every plant the best possible shot of thriving.”

The Future is Ours

 “This is exciting,” Angel said. “We’ll see the American chestnut in our forests in our lifetimes.”