From left to right, Secretary Kempthorne, Marshal T. Case, president of the American Chestnut Foundation; Kraig Naasz, President and CEO of the National Mining Association and Brent Wahlquist, Appalachian Region Director for Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, at a July 26, 2007 ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, planted a blight-resistant American chestnut tree outside the headquarters of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement in the nation's capital.

The American Chestnut once dominated eastern forests: a quarter of the trees from Maine to Florida and west the Ohio Valley were American chestnuts.   The tree used to be known as the “Redwood of the East” – a strong, hardwood tree that provided an economic and ecological powerhouse throughout its natural range.

The lumber's straight grain, light weight and 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 livestock feasted on the plentiful chestnuts.  Rural communities gathered the nuts for sale to urban centers.

One of the greatest ecological disasters in North America came about with the introduction of a fungus from Asia in about 1900.  By 1950, the pathogen had killed an estimated 3.5 billion American chestnut trees, nearly all of them in the United States.

American Chestnut Foundation

The American Chestnut Foundation has been working for more than 25 years to develop a blight-resistant American chestnut to restore the grand monarch of the eastern woodlands.  At breeding orchards in Virginia and at Penn State University, the foundation’s scientists have taken Chinese chestnut trees, which are resistant to the blight, and bred them with their American cousins over several generations.  

Dr. Christopher Barton, a University of Kentucky professor, helps a student from John’s Creek Elementary School, Pikeville, Ky., plant an American chestnut on a surface mine site near Meta, Ky. OSM and the University of Kentucky partner with the American Chestnut Foundation to restore the tree to its preeminence in eastern U.S. forests.

The most recent generations of hybrids have nearly 95 percent of the American chestnut’s genes, combined with the blight resistance of the Chinese chestnut.  The project is producing seeds and seedlings to replant across the American landscape.

Appalachian Spring

This restoration effort is particularly significant in Appalachia, where most of the land is forested and where for 300 years most of our nation’s coal has been mined.  The coal fields of Appalachia match up almost perfectly with what once was the natural range of the American chestnut tree. 

And as Gifford Pinchot, the father of American Forestry, observed: “Chestnut will thrive on a variety of soils, from almost pure sand to coarse gravels and shales...it prefers the dry, well-drained rocky land to the richer, more compact soils." 

That essentially describes the growing medium of a properly-prepared reclaimed surface mine land -- sandy, coarse, gravely, dry, well drained, rocky, and loose enough for tree roots to grow exponentially.  Reclaimed surface mine lands in Appalachia make outstanding springboards to bring the American chestnut tree back into the eastern forest.

Interior’s Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement:

Interior’s Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement is working with the American Chestnut Foundation, states and tribes as well as industry and environmental groups to encourage the repopulation of Chestnut trees at coal mines that were reclaimed under the agency’s oversight. Pure and hybrid American chestnuts are being planted on reclaimed surface mine lands in Appalachia by industry personnel, mine regulators, abandoned mine reclaimers, university researchers, and many volunteers, including elementary schoolchildren.

This drawing done by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of the American chestnut tree and blacksmith shop inspired his poem that begins, "Under the spreading chestnut tree, the village smithy stands."

Already American Chestnut Foundation partnerships have planted more than 3,000 American chestnuts on surface mines in all seven Appalachian coal states.  In 2006 and 2007, OSM provided Applied Science Research funding to reforestation researchers at the University of Kentucky, Virginia Tech, and Ohio University for research projects to find better ways to plant high-value hardwoods -- including American chestnuts -- on reclaimed surface mine lands.

This is just the beginning.  Because the number of blight resistant seedlings is extremely limited, every seedling is critical. Every plant has to have the best possible shot of thriving.  OSM will play a key role in this major Appalachian reforestation initiative, coordinating and carrying out this project through the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative. 

This large, diverse partnership committed to using the best science and the best techniques to restore forests on reclaimed mine lands has the infrastructure and organization in place to locate mine sites as vectors of dispersal where sizable plantations can be established.  The Initiative now boasts 237 members, including 40 government agencies; 39 industry organizations; 23 environmental groups; 15 academic institutions; and 7 citizen groups.  Together, these partners have planted millions of trees so far.

These cross sections of trees are all the same age and were cut the same distance from the ground.  At bottom right is a section from a natural forest that’s never been mined.  At bottom left is a section from a reclaimed mine site where the soil was packed down and compacted the way everyone thought it should be for the last 30 years.  At top is a section from a tree grown on reclaimed mine land where the soil was packed loosely instead of compacted.  With proper planting techniques and care, the growth of trees can be doubled over what they would experience naturally.

Because reclaimed mine sites in Appalachia 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.

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. But being planted in soil free of these microorganisms give the trees several years to establish themselves before being stressed by the blight.

Experiments show that the American chestnut grows very fast on mine spoil when prepared properly – not compacted into a hard soil, but loosely compacted. Within a very short time there can be large plantations of American chestnuts.  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. When done properly, water runoff is less than with the heavy compaction of traditional reclamation process.

Press Releases:

Additional Documents and Information:

• American Chestnut Foundation