The DEM ISE AND
RESURREC TION OF THE
AMERICAN CHESTNUT
TREE IN MICHIGAN
Dr. Stacy L. Daniels
Crystal Lake & Watershed Association
Benzie Conservation District
March 23, 2009
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/840/45010903.JPG
"A lake, decidedly, is more than a mere
body of water;
Contained by sand, moved by wind,
wave, and ice.
Rather, it defines, in time and space,
myriad environments
That offer myriad viewpoints to all who
frequent it."
-- SLD, 020209
CRYSTAL LAKE:
AN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY
OF
MYRIAD ENVIRONMENTS
FROM MYRIAD VIEWPOINTS
The Sand-Reckoner
• Archimedes described a numbering system
for the grains of sand in the universe (1063)
• Myriad: 104 = 10,000
• (~ summer inhabitants of Crystal Lake)
• Myriad myriad: 108 = 100,000,000
• (~ individuals aware of Crystal Lake)
The American Chestnut
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Courtesy of the Forest History Society
A VERY BIG tree
Description
Uses
Range
Demise
Local history
Resurrection
Historical Mentions
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Known to the ancient Greeks and Romans
The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not
like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any
tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. -- Ezekiel, 31:8.
Theophrastus, "the Father of Botany," speaks of it as covering the slopes
of Olympus. 4th Century AD
Paleoethnobotanical Inquiry of Early Euro-American and Ojibwa Gardens
on Grand Island, Michigan
“As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire?” -- Shakespeare, The Taming of the
Shrew: I, ii.
“Under a spreading chestnut tree…” –Longfellow, The Village Blacksmith
"Nature was in a good mood when the chestnut tree came forth." -- Henry
Ward Beecher
“The chestnut forests were so thick a squirrel could jump from chestnut
tree to chestnut tree from Georgia to New York without ever touching the
ground." – Old Saying
“The ordinary chestnut can beget a sickly and reluctant laugh, but it takes a
horse chestnut to fetch the gorgeous big horse-laugh” – Mark Twain
“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.” –Mel Torme
Leaves, Burrs, & Nuts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:American_Chestnut.JPG
Leaf-Flower-Twig-Fruit-Form-Blight
Chestnut Lineage
• The American Chestnut (Castanea dentata)
(ka stay'nee uh den ta ta) (Sweet chestnut)
• Largest single living organism east of Mississippi R.
• A large, deciduous tree (beech family)
• Up to 30–45 meters (100–150 ft) tall, and 3 meters
(10 ft) in diameter
• Related to European Sweet Chestnut (C. sativa);
Chinese Chestnut (C. mollissima); and Japanese
Chestnut (C. crenata)
• Not related to Horse Chestnut (Buckeye) (Aesculus
hippocastanum) that is related to maple and lychee
Uses
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Natural ecological sustainability
Urban landscaping
Food for wildlife, livestock, and humans
Fine woodwork, furniture, musical
instruments.
• Charcoal for use by blacksmiths
• Construction, fencing, boxes, barrels, railroad
ties, telegraph poles, mine timbers.
(Resistant to rot).
• Tannins (from bark and wood) extracted for
leather tanning industry
Humans & Chestnuts
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“The fruit is very nutritious, energising,
remineralising, a tonic for muscles, nerves and
veinous system, anti-anemic, antiseptic and
stomachic. It is recommended to convalescents.”
-- Dr Jean Valnet, Traitement des maladies par
les légumes, les fruits et les céréales, 1964.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnuts
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“With close-grain’d chestnut, wood of sovereign
use, For casking up the grape’s most powerful
juice.” -- John Claudius Loudon, 1840.
Advantages?
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Best-loved native American tree
Beautiful and stately form for landscaping
Fastest growing hardwood tree
Many commercial uses
Pleasing rich wood grain
Bright foliage
Attractively-shaped leaves
Odorous, cream-colored blossoms
Toothsome nuts (substitute for coffee)
Disadvantges?
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Prefers undisturbed soil
Grows in loose, well-drained, rocky, sandy soil.
Easily injured by fire
Many insect enemies
Bark borers
Foliage injured by leaf rollers
Nuts infested with chestnut weevil
Chestnut blight
Natural Range
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Eastern hardwood
Maine to Florida
Carolinas to Ohio
2,000,000 Acres
4,000,000,000 trees
¼ of all hardwoods
Only SE Michigan
Local History - Benzie County
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Not native to NW Lower Michigan
Planted by early settlers for nut crop
~15,000 surviving trees, 271 sites (1970’s)
A grove of several thousand chestnut trees
planted ~ 1910 on the old Rogers farm at
Chimney Corners ( SE ¼ Sect. 35, T27N,
R16W) at the top of the Point Betsie Moraine,
a massive 300-foot glacial ridge which flanks
the north shore of Crystal Lake. The stand,
located at the south edge of an open field
once used as an orchard, is bordered on the
south and west by a beech-maple woodland.
Thompson, P(aul) W., A Unique American Chestnut Grove, Mich. Acad. 1, 173-8 (1969).
Demise - Chestnut Blight
• Worst disaster in forest history.
• Introduced into North America in 1904 from imported
Asiatic chestnut trees. Reached MI by 1916.
• Cause: Asian bark fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica)
• Symptoms: bark cankers, wilting of distal foliage,
and formation of epicormic sprouts.
• Sticky orange tendrils on epidermis; within the xylem
vessels become clogged.
• New shoots often sprout from the roots when the
main stem dies, but rarely grow more than 6 meters
(20 ft) before blight returns.
Whether the Blight?
“Will the blight end the chestnut?
The farmers rather guess not.
It keeps smoldering at the
roots
And sending up new
shoots
Till another
parasite
Shall
come to end the blight.
-- Robert Frost, ~ 1930’s
The American Chestnut Foundation
• The goal of TACF is to restore the
American chestnut tree to its native
range within the woodlands of the
eastern United States, using a scientific
research and breeding program
developed by its founders.
• http://www.acf.org/Legacy_Tree.php
Chestnut Growers, Inc.
• Michigan Growers Producing, Harvesting,
and Processing Sweet Chestnuts
• About sweet chestnuts
• Products: fresh chestnuts, peeled frozen
chestnuts, chestnut slices, chestnut flour
Chestnut recipes
• Scheduled chestnut roastings
• http://www.chestnutgrowersinc.com/
Resurrection - Genetics
• Pruning and sprays ineffective due to re-infection.
• Selection of hypovirulent (less-susceptible) trees
somewhat successful.
• Introduction into the American chestnut the
genetic material responsible for blight resistance
of the Chinese tree, but also preserve the genetic
heritage of the American species.
• 15/16 American chestnut : 1/16 Chinese chestnut.
Benzie CD Tree Sale
• American Chestnut New!
Castanea dentata
• This once dominant canopy tree
of the eastern forest is given a
hopeful prospect, free of the
blight that killed its grandfather.
• Its sweet nuts were once use as
an essential ingredient for
traditional stuffing.
• White flowers appear in late
spring, early summer. Fast
growing. 50’-70’
• 10-20 inches, $3.00 each.
• http://www.benziecd.org/
Planting Blight-Resistant Seedlings
(A planned activity for the Crystal Lake “Walkabout – Spring 2009)
http://www.coalcreekaml.com/ElkValleyArborDay2008.htm Elk Valley Elementary School, TN
References
• Brewer, Lawrence G., Ecology of Survival and Recovery from
Blight in American Chestnut Trees (Castanea dentata (March.)
Borkh) in Michigan, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 122(1) 40-57 (1995).
• Buttrick, P.L., Commercial Uses of Chestnut, American Forestry
31 (262), 960-967 (Oct. 1915).
• Detwiler, Samuel B., The American Chestnut Tree Identification and Characteristics, American Forestry 31 (262),
957-959 (Oct. 1915).
• Freinkel, Susan, American Chestnut: The Life, Death, and
Rebirth of a Perfect Tree, Univ. Cal. Press, 2007, 284pp.
http://books.google.com/books?id=0doVW63nytAC
• Fulbright, D.W. Weidlich, W.H., Haufler, K.Z., Thomas, C.S.,
and Paul, C.P., Chestnut Blight and Recovering American
Chestnut Trees in Michigan, Can. J. Bot. 61, 3164-71 (1983).
• Thompson, P(aul) W., A Unique American Chestnut Grove,
Mich. Acad. 1, 173-178 (1969).
Crystal Lake Watershed