Chestnuts in Surface Mining Restoration - Kentucky Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation

Background

American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was a dominant hardwood species throughout much of the state. These magnificent trees attained diameters greater than 12 feet and stood over 100 feet tall (See Fig. 1). Every year, they produced an abundant nut crop that was eaten by deer, turkey, small mammals, and humans. American chestnut bark was rich in tannins which were extracted and were formerly highly valued for leather tanning. Its wood was lightweight and rot resistant, and was used for construction, furniture, rail fences, telegraph poles, railroad ties, and more. Its range included all of the Cumberland Plateau in the east and extended beyond the Land Between the Lakes area in the west. The only region of Kentucky from which American chestnut was virtually absent was the Bluegrass Region (see Figs. 2 & 3). In the early 1900’s, an introduced fungal blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) was killing American chestnuts to the north. It began in New York City, and spread approximately 50 miles every year. By the mid 1930’s, the blight had reached Kentucky and quickly swept across the state. By the end of the 1930’s, virtually all of the chestnuts in Kentucky were either dead or dying. Luckily, American chestnut has the ability to produce stump sprouts, and tens of thousands of sprouts can be found throughout Kentucky’s forests to this day. Unfortunately however, what was once a majestic overstory tree has been reduced to an understory shrub, and only a few of the sprouts that remain reach the flowering stage.

Restoring a Legend

Since 1983, The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) has been selectively cross-breeding the few surviving American chestnuts that attain the size necessary to produce flowers with Chinese chestnuts (Castanea mollissima), with the hope of one day restoring this venerable tree throughout its native range (See Fig. 4). The fungal blight originated in Asia, and many Chinese chestnuts have a strong resistance to the blight. By crossing the surviving American chestnuts with Chinese chestnuts and back-crossing the offspring with different American chestnuts three times, TACF has produced hybrid chestnuts that are essentially 15/16 American chestnut in character and 1/16 Chinese chestnut in character. At each step in the back-cross procedure, the hybrids were tested for blight resistance. Only trees with a high blight resistance were used in successive breeding stages. The 15/16 trees will be intercrossed twice to produce pure-breeding blight resistant chestnuts that display many of the American chestnut’s growth characteristics while retaining the blight resistance of Chinese chestnuts.

Kentucky Chapter has developed mother tree orchards in Carter and Morgan counties (See Fig. 5). These mother tree orchards contain sprouts that were dug up from the forest and transplanted to a location where they could be cared for and eventually pollinated and incorporated into TACF’s breeding program. This will help us to preserve more of the American chestnut’s genetic diversity. The Kentucky Chapter hopes to establish mother tree orchards from every region where chestnuts were present.

There may be great potential for The American Chestnut Foundation’s restoration efforts on surface mined lands. Since the passage of SMCRA in 1977 it has been common practice for the overburden to be spread and compacted over a previously mined site to achieve “approximate original contour.” This compaction created vast areas of highly compacted spoils that were detrimental to tree growth. Title l one section f of SMCRA states “because of the diversity in terrain, climate, biologic, chemical, and other physical conditions in areas subject to mining operations, the primary governmental responsibility for developing, authorizing, issuing, and enforcing regulations for surface mining and reclamation operations subject to this Act should rest with the States.” This has recently allowed Kentucky and other states to experiment with reclamation techniques such as end dumping of overburden, creating an uneven surface of loose spoil where trees can grow (Fig. 7,8, & 9). In 2004, TACF planted mid- level backcross trees on a surface mine in Muhlenberg County on Peabody Energy property. In the near future, research will be conducted on mined lands in eastern Kentucky in Letcher and Pike counties in hopes of determining the best methods for chestnut reforestation on surface mined lands. These areas of research will include end dumping, ripping, direct-seeding, and transplantation.

^{The Kentucky Chapter would like to thank:}

The US Forest Service
The Kentucky Division of Forestry
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
Mammoth Cave National Park
The University of Kentucky Eastern Kentucky University
Berea College
The National Wild Turkey Federation
The League of Kentucky Sportsmen
The Kentucky Forest Industries Association
The Homeplace
The Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative

Fig. 8 Seven year old trees on a compacted site compacted. Fig. 9 Seven year old trees on an end dumped, non-compacted site.

Fig. 8

Fig 9.


Background American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was a dominant hardwood species throughout much of the state. These magnificent trees attained diameters greater than 12 feet and stood over 100 feet tall (See Fig. 1). Every year, they produced an abundant nut crop that was eaten by deer, turkey, small mammals, and humans. American chestnut bark was rich in tannins which were extracted and were formerly highly valued for leather tanning. Its wood was lightweight and rot resistant, and was used for construction, furniture, rail fences, telegraph poles, railroad ties, and more. Its range included all of the Cumberland Plateau in the east and extended beyond the Land Between the Lakes area in the west. The only region of Kentucky from which American chestnut was virtually absent was the Bluegrass Region (see Figs. 2 & 3). In the early 1900’s, an introduced fungal blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) was killing American chestnuts to the north. It began in New York City, and spread approximately 50 miles every year. By the mid 1930’s, the blight had reached Kentucky and quickly swept across the state. By the end of the 1930’s, virtually all of the chestnuts in Kentucky were either dead or dying. Luckily, American chestnut has the ability to produce stump sprouts, and tens of thousands of sprouts can be found throughout Kentucky’s forests to this day. Unfortunately however, what was once a majestic overstory tree has been reduced to an understory shrub, and only a few of the sprouts that remain reach the flowering stage. Restoring a Legend Since 1983, The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) has been selectively cross-breeding the few surviving American chestnuts that attain the size necessary to produce flowers with Chinese chestnuts (Castanea mollissima), with the hope of one day restoring this venerable tree throughout its native range (See Fig. 4). The fungal blight originated in Asia, and many Chinese chestnuts have a strong resistance to the blight. By crossing the surviving American chestnuts with Chinese chestnuts and back-crossing the offspring with different American chestnuts three times, TACF has produced hybrid chestnuts that are essentially 15/16 American chestnut in character and 1/16 Chinese chestnut in character. At each step in the back-cross procedure, the hybrids were tested for blight resistance. Only trees with a high blight resistance were used in successive breeding stages. The 15/16 trees will be intercrossed twice to produce pure-breeding blight resistant chestnuts that display many of the American chestnut’s growth characteristics while retaining the blight resistance of Chinese chestnuts.

Kentucky Chapter has developed mother tree orchards in Carter and Morgan counties (See Fig. 5). These mother tree orchards contain sprouts that were dug up from the forest and transplanted to a location where they could be cared for and eventually pollinated and incorporated into TACF’s breeding program. This will help us to preserve more of the American chestnut’s genetic diversity. The Kentucky Chapter hopes to establish mother tree orchards from every region where chestnuts were present. There may be great potential for The American Chestnut Foundation’s restoration efforts on surface mined lands. Since the passage of SMCRA in 1977 it has been common practice for the overburden to be spread and compacted over a previously mined site to achieve “approximate original contour.” This compaction created vast areas of highly compacted spoils that were detrimental to tree growth. Title l one section f of SMCRA states “because of the diversity in terrain, climate, biologic, chemical, and other physical conditions in areas subject to mining operations, the primary governmental responsibility for developing, authorizing, issuing, and enforcing regulations for surface mining and reclamation operations subject to this Act should rest with the States.” This has recently allowed Kentucky and other states to experiment with reclamation techniques such as end dumping of overburden, creating an uneven surface of loose spoil where trees can grow (Fig. 7,8, & 9). In 2004, TACF planted mid- level backcross trees on a surface mine in Muhlenberg County on Peabody Energy property. In the near future, research will be conducted on mined lands in eastern Kentucky in Letcher and Pike counties in hopes of determining the best methods for chestnut reforestation on surface mined lands. These areas of research will include end dumping, ripping, direct-seeding, and transplantation.

		^{The Kentucky Chapter would like to thank:} The US Forest Service The Kentucky Division of Forestry The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources Mammoth Cave National Park The University of Kentucky Eastern Kentucky University Berea College The National Wild Turkey Federation The League of Kentucky Sportsmen The Kentucky Forest Industries Association The Homeplace The Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative
Fig. 8 Seven year old trees on a compacted site compacted. Fig. 9 Seven year old trees on an end dumped, non-compacted site.
Fig. 8 Fig 9.