Nostalgists - efforts to save America chestnut trees in Virginia - Brief Article

American Forests, Summer, 2001

Nostalgists for the American chestnut tree flocked to Washington, Virginia, this spring to buy seedlings resistant to a blight that has wiped out the species. A local Lions Club sold 500 trees in an hour. The trees were grown by the Newport, Virginia-based American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation.

Since 1900, the airborne fungus has girdled trunks, leaving stumps in its wake. The seedlings resulted from cross-pollinating two mature chestnuts. Lucille Griffin, the foundation's director, figures 10 percent of the seedlings are resistant. At $2 apiece, most people are happy to gamble. Says Griffin, planting American chestnuts "is a romantic idea, after all."