| Lesesne State Forest Field Day, May 31st |
PARTNERS IN PLANTING-Restoring the American Chestnut with the help of the Virginia Department of Forestry
On May 31st, 24 chestnut lovers gathered in Lesesne State Forest (Nelson County; near Wintergreen) to learn about the chestnut breeding plan set in action by the Virginia Department of Forestry. Lesesne's 421 acres were donated for chestnut research in 1969, and 10,000 trees were planted in the five years that followed.
Field day attendees enjoyed a tour led by Wayne Bowman, a research forester for the Virginia Department of Forestry. After a quick round of introductions, showing many of the attendees to have participated in the Virginia Master Naturalist program, Mr. Bowman described the complicated map of chestnut trees, which are anywhere from 1/4 to 15/16 American.
The Department of Forestry 's goals are similar to those of the American Chestnut Foundation: they are attempting to breed Asian resistance to the blight into American trees. After the initial Chinese-American cross, multiple backcrosses with American chestnuts reduce the amount of Asian influence on the tree's shape. The Chinese chestnut is an orchard tree and branches close to the ground, whereas the American chestnut tends to be tall and straight: a better timber tree.
After collecting samples from many different trees, the group compared the leaves and stems, looking for a gradient from pure Chinese to pure American. Although some differences were subtle, attendees learned to identify features that were more clearly American.
Field trip attendees also had the opportunity to study chestnut catkins and learned to locate female flowers. The Department of Forestry uses similar pollination methods as well, pre-bagging and directly selecting the parents of the offspring.
The group then headed over to a research orchard of pure Americans, monitored by Doctor Gary Griffin of Virginia Tech. Two large survivors, inoculated with a hypovirulent blight strain, were particularly spectacular.
