|
|
|
Release No. FS-0506 |
Contact: |
Heidi Valetkevitch, (202) 205-1089
hvaletkevitch@fs.fed.us
Dale Kolenberg, TACF, (802) 447-0110
Dale@acf.org
|
FOREST SERVICE PARTNERS WITH AMERICAN CHESTNUT
FOUNDATION TO BRING THE
AMERICAN CHESTNUT BACK FROM NEAR EXTINCTION
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich, Oct. 12, 2004 – The
U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and The American Chestnut
Foundation (TACF), a non-profit organization restoring the American
chestnut tree, today signed an agreement to return the beloved American
chestnut tree to eastern United States forests more than 50 years
after it was nearly wiped out by the
chestnut blight.
A memorandum of understanding, signed at a Forest Service meeting
with its leadership team and TACF executives here, establishes a
framework for the two organizations to work together to introduce
blight-resistant American chestnut trees into the forest ecosystem
of the eastern landscape. The Forest Service and TACF will use scientific
research and a breeding program developed by TACF founders to restore
the once dominant hardwood
tree to its native woodlands.
“This agreement with The American Chestnut Foundation is
a prime example of how partnerships with non-profits and other groups
can double our efforts in restoring and preserving our nation’s
forests and wildlife habitat,” said Dale Bosworth, chief of
the Forest Service. “One of the
greatest benefits of restoring the American chestnut will be a food
source to wildlife because of its capacity for large and plentiful
nut production.”
Chestnut, the "redwood of the East," is a very fast-growing
hardwood. It is an environmentally-friendly alternative to pressure-treated
wood and can be used to fit the demand for naturally rot-resistant
wood for fencing, landscape timbers and utility poles.
“The loss of these trees is considered by some measures
to be among the greatest environmental disasters to befall the Western
Hemisphere since the last Ice Age,” said Marshal T. Case,
president and chief executive officer of TACF. “Restoration
of this keystone species will greatly benefit both local economies
and the ecosystem in the eastern United States.”
At the beginning of the 20th century, the American chestnut comprised
up to one-quarter of the total stand in its range, from Maine to
Georgia, from the Piedmont to the Ohio Valley and into the Great
Lakes region. First discovered in 1904 in New York City, the blight—incited
by a fungus accidentally imported on Asian chestnut trees to which
our native chestnuts had very little resistance—spread quickly.
In its wake it left only dead and dying stems, killing billions
of trees. By 1950, except for the root sprouts the species continually
produces (and which also quickly
become infected), the keystone species on some nine million acres
of eastern forests had mostly disappeared.
#
The Forest Service is a federal agency that manages
191 million acres of national forests and grasslands. The Forest
Service is the largest forestry research organization in the world
and its state and private forestry programs provide technical and
financial assistance to state and
private forestry agencies. Its mission is to sustain the health,
diversity and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands
to meet the needs of present and future generations. For more information,
visit www.fs.fed.us.
The American Chestnut Foundation is a not-for-profit
organization funded primarily by more than 5,000 American and International
members. Its goal is to restore the American chestnut tree to its
native forests through a scientific research and breeding program
developed by TACF founders. For more information, visit http://www.acf.org/.
|