Technology Puts American Chestnut Trees on the Comeback Trail

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WASHINGTON—More than a century after blight decimated the American chestnut tree, the U.S. government is weighing whether to allow a genetically engineered version to spread in the wild.

The impending decision has unleashed a ferocious debate over the promises and perils of genetic engineering among legions of chestnut enthusiasts. Some have been preparing for years in hopes that a genetically modified tree that can withstand blight will revive once-mighty chestnut forests. Others warn that could have unintended environmental consequences.

“The tree itself—and what it has meant to American history and the wealth of the country—if we could restore it in any part even, that would be huge,” said Karl Mech Jr., a retired surgeon who grows chestnut trees at his home in Baldwin, Md.  

Karl Mech, Jr., inspects his American chestnuts that he grows in his home in Baldwin, Maryland. Rosem Morton for The Wall Street Journal
Pure American chestnut trees are seen on Mr. Mech’s farm. Rosem Morton for The Wall Street Journal
Mr. Mech shows American chestnut seeds he has been refrigerating in his home. Rosem Morton for The Wall Street Journal

Retired surgeon Karl Mech Jr. grows chestnut trees at his home in Baldwin, Md., and refrigerates their seeds. Rosem Morton for The Wall Street Journal (3)

American chestnut trees once abounded in forests east of the Mississippi River, stretching from Maine to Louisiana. They often soared to 100 feet, and rot-resistant chestnut wood was used widely in fences, coffins, telephone and telegraph poles, railroad crossties and musical instruments. 

Americans not only ate the nuts, but in some areas could also use them to pay for groceries, lawyers’ fees and newspaper subscriptions, according to

Donald Edward Davis,

author of the 2021 book “The American Chestnut.”  

But the American chestnut became functionally extinct by the early 20th century through a combination of deforestation, a disease that caused root rot and a blight brought over on Japanese chestnut trees. Researchers and government officials estimate the blight killed somewhere between three billion and five billion trees. 

Now, the U.S. Agriculture Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration are assessing the risks of allowing widespread planting of the genetically engineered American chestnut tree, which can now be grown in only a handful of authorized spots under USDA regulations. If approved, it would mark the first time a genetically engineered tree would be released into the wild to spread. 

The Agriculture Department last month posted for comment two analyses finding little risk to the environment and forest ecosystem from a genetically modified chestnut, while acknowledging some uncertainty around its impact. 

The American chestnut tree became functionally extinct by the early 20th century, leaving behind blighted forests such as this one in Virginia.



Photo:

Library of Congress

With decisions from government agencies expected next year, long-running disagreements over how to best restore the chestnut tree have deepened. 

“It’s like you’re in these different religious camps and people are defending their orthodoxies,” Mr. Davis said. 

One faction has focused on reviving American chestnuts found in the wild after surviving the blight. Another pushes for crossing American chestnuts with Chinese and Japanese chestnut trees, which tend to better survive chestnut blight but don’t grow as tall, making it hard for them to compete for sunlight in crowded forests. 

By breeding the hybrid trees back with American chestnuts in various permutations, these growers hope to eventually produce a blight-tolerant tree that can also grow tall quickly enough to flourish in the forest.

Dentist Don Kines in a chestnut tree in 2008. Mr. Kines, who grows chestnut seedlings in West Virginia, says his older friends ’want to see a blight-resistant tree before they die.’



Photo:

Sheryl Kines

“The brunt of my argument is the breeding is working,” said Don Kines, a dentist in Davis, W.Va., who grows chestnut seedlings in his former dental office. But for some, he said, “it’s not working as fast as they want.” 

If the genetically engineered tree is released, Mr. Kines said he won’t plant it himself but has agreed to help some older friends excited by the technology. 

“They want to see a blight-resistant tree before they die,” he said. “I’m not going to tell them no.” 

Some say the genetically engineered chestnut tree, developed by academics at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, working with the American Chestnut Foundation, has a better shot at success. 

Researchers added an enzyme from wheat that breaks down the toxin produced by the blight to develop a line of blight-tolerant trees, known as Darling 58, said

Andrew Newhouse,

co-director of SUNY’s chestnut project. 

“The resistance of Darling 58 is superior to anything we’ve been able to do through traditional breeding,” said

Sara Fitzsimmons,

chief conservation officer for the American Chestnut Foundation. 

Skeptics of genetic engineering said more time and tests are needed before releasing a tree into the wild and that other methods hold promise in restoring the American chestnut. They worry, for example, that the genetically engineered chestnut could spread more rapidly than expected and potentially replace the wild American chestnut before it is known whether future problems will occur.

“This is a tree that could potentially live 200 years—they’re saying after three years in a field trial, they know what it will do in a forest,” said

Anne Petermann,

executive director of Global Justice Ecology Project, an environmental advocacy group. “If there’s a problem with this genetic modification in say 10, 20 years, there’ll be no way to recall them.” 

Mr. Newhouse said the tests performed suggest the genetically engineered trees are “at least as safe as other alternatives” and that “doing nothing also has consequences” for the environment.

Lois Breault-Melican and her husband, Denis Melican, resigned from their local Massachusetts chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation in 2019, when they learned it was leaning into genetic engineering. They now focus on breeding using wild American chestnuts in forests, but also encourage planting smaller hybrid trees in backyards, as they did. 

“We’re all spending time and money mowing giant lawns when a good portion of that lawn could be converted into a productive chestnut orchard,” Mr. Melican said. 

Seedlings of healthy chestnut trees on Mr. Mech’s farm. Rosem Morton for The Wall Street Journa
American Chestnut trees being treated for blight. Rosem Morton for The Wall Street Journa

Seedlings of healthy chestnut trees on Mr. Mech’s home in Maryland, alongside trees being treated for blight. Rosem Morton for The Wall Street Journal (2)

Those who grow chestnuts to harvest the nuts tend to rely on Chinese chestnut trees, which have larger nuts than American chestnuts, or hybrids of the two.

Chestnuts taste “different than you think,” said David Bryant, who has an orchard of about 1,400 hybrid trees in Shipman, Va., with his wife. “It’s somewhat like a raw potato,” before being cooked, he said.

If the government allows the release of the genetically engineered tree, volunteers are standing ready to plant it. Breeding the Darling 58 with local American chestnuts is expected to help it thrive in different climates and soil types. 

Tom Huff, an accountant in Allentown, Pa., has been preparing for the possibility of a genetically engineered American chestnut since 2016. He has grown seedlings and planted them in dozens of spots throughout northeastern Pennsylvania, arranged with a space reserved in the middle for a Darling 58 or its progeny. 

In February, he plans to take about 150 chestnuts from his refrigerator crisper and begin growing them in his living room.

His wife, he said, “is very tolerant of having her front bay window be a greenhouse.” 

The Allentown, Pa., living room where accountant Tom Huff grows American chestnut seedlings.



Photo:

Tom Huff

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