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There was a time when the whole eastern coast from Georgia to Maine was covered with American Chestnut trees. They dominated most of all the forests with an estimated amount of four billion trees throughout the eastern U.S. . Mature chestnuts average up to five feet in diameter and up to one hundred feet tall. Many specimens were recorded at eight to ten feet in diameter, and a few were even bigger. The Chestnut tree was a primary source of food for many animals and its nuts helped many settlers make it through long winters. The tree also was very important because it provided an abundant and reliable lumber source. It grew straight and branch-free for up to 50 feet. Chestnut was lighter in weight and more easily worked than oak and it proved as rot resistant as redwood. It was used for virtually everything:telephone poles, fences, railroad ties, shingles, fine furniture and even musical instruments. In the early 1900's a fungal blight, accidentally imported from Asia, wiped out most of all the Chestnut trees throughout the eastern coast. First discovered in New York , the lethal fungus moved at a frightening speed. By 1950, all that remained were huge ghostly trees. To this day the stumps send up shrub-like sprouts that also quickly succumb to the blight. The major species of some nine million acres eastern forests had been virtually lost. In the 2004-05 academic year, the American Chestnut Project began a program to re-establish the tree in Maine. Two Brunswick high school students helped C.R.E.A. introduce the planting activity to local area elementary and middle schools. Our Geo/Ecology class served as the clearinghouse for all the materials needed for the project. Seeds, tree cuttings, and instructional materials were packaged and sent off to over 70 different schools throughout the state. Literally hundreds of seedlings were planted along one stretch of the beginning Heath trail on the preserve. Our class also planted six trees on a knoll right outside the Alternative Education A.P.A.C.E.Program located in the MSAD #75 Central Office building. |
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