The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) is a large, monoecious deciduous tree of the beech family native to eastern North America. The American chestnut was once considered one of the most important forest trees throughout its range and was considered the finest chestnut tree in the world. However, the species was devastated by chestnut blight, a fungal disease that came from introduced chestnut trees from East Asia. It is estimated that between 3 and 4 billion American chestnut trees were destroyed in the first half of the 20th century by blight after its initial discovery in 1904. Very few mature specimens of the tree exist within its historical range, although many small shoots of the former live trees remain. There are hundreds of large (2 to 5 ft diameter) American chestnuts outside its historical range, some in areas where less virulent strains of the pathogen are more common, such as the 600 to 800 large trees in Northern Michigan. The species is listed as endangered in Canada as well as in the United States. Chinese chestnut trees have been found to have the highest resistance/immunity to chestnut blight, therefore there are currently programs to revive the American chestnut tree population by cross-breeding the blight-resistant Chinese chestnut with the American chestnut tree, so that the blight-resistant genes from Chinese chestnut may protect and restore the American chestnut population back to its original status as a dominant species in American forests.
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Take a look at our Chestnut Designs, our Old Style Chestnut is molded from original chestnut bark siding
Below Is A Recent Project Replacing 80-Year-Old Original Chestnut Bark With Our Smartbark!
"More than a century ago, nearly four billion American chestnut trees were growing in the eastern U.S. They were among the largest, tallest, and fastest-growing trees. The wood was rot-resistant, straight-grained, and suitable for furniture, fencing, and building. The nuts fed billions of wildlife, people, and their livestock. It was almost a perfect tree, that is, until a blight fungus killed it more than a century ago. The chestnut blight has been called the greatest ecological disaster to strike the world’s forests in all of history."
Also available from the designers at Barkclad is the Elite Chestnut! This mimics the original Chestnut Bark as the days the Giants existed.
Below you will find an Elite Chestnut installation Project!
Barkclad is a Proud Member of the American Chestnut Foundation, to become a member or make a donation follow this link
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