‘This isn’t a gimmick’: the New Yorkers trying to restore the American chestnut

3 comments

1. Native trees and plants, best idea, albeit a moving target as climate change pushes the boundaries further north

2. 30 years ago, I was living on a farm in the NC Piedmont region, and the WWII veteran that owned the land told me that when he was a boy the woods were full of frog ponds made by big chestnut trees falling over and pulling up their root balls.

   Chestnut wood is highly resistant to rot, and not long-ago people were still pulling big chestnut logs out of the forests in the Eastern mountains. The lumber was milled and sold as “wormy chestnut” due to miniscule worm holes in the wood.

   I used to do interior trim carpentry for wealthy clients and our most expensive house per square foot used wormy chestnut paneling in the study. It was one of the best woods that I have ever worked with – straight grained and highly resistant to splitting.

3. Here in Oregon we are about to lose all our native Oregon Ash due to invasive insect. Heartbreaking stuff, I wish them nothing but success!

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