Some info related to the earlier post I made - in regards to “caring about native organisms”:
One of the greatest tragedies to befall Eastern North American forests, greater perhaps than the passing of the passenger pigeon, was the loss of the American chestnut.
The chestnut was one of the giants of the forest - literally, because these trees would grow 120 ft tall. They towered among forests of hemlock, white pine, hickory and oak. Chestnuts provided food for people and animals alike, food in abundance, falling in very spiny burs around the majestic giants. Their wood was straight, fast growing and rot resistant. They were a keystone species, for animals, including humans, that relied on them for food and homes.
So where have they gone? Why are the only chestnuts in the forest pale, young, spindly ghosts never producing a nut crop before they fall?
In the early 1900s they were almost entirely eliminated by an imported fungus.
A tree species as abundant as oaks are today, useful in every way to animals, including humans…gone.
But all hope is not lost. What human carelessness destroyed, careful human creativity might be able to fix. Today, two efforts are trying to restore the tree to the forest. One involves laborious backcrossing with the Chinese chestnut, the other uses genetic modification. (Personally I support the genetic modification effort a little more, because I believe it will result in a tree far more like the one that was lost - this comes from having studied a lot about plant breeding and knowing what is happening in both efforts).
You can read better writing than mine about the genetic modification effort here.
Researcher presentation on the genetic modification effort here.
You can read about (and donate to) both efforts here.
If we can succeed in bringing back the American chestnut, we will have done something for the natural world - and ourselves - that is momentous. We will have restored a species our own efforts rendered nearly extinct to some of its former glory.
I know that animals are more popular than plants, that people love to imagine bringing back woolly mammoths or dinosaurs. But, in my mind, it would be far better to bring back a tree that helps provide for many other organisms, including our own species. And bringing back this tree is DOABLE.
Please support the restoration of the American chestnut - by informing others about the tree that was lost, and the efforts to restore it, keeping somewhat current with chestnut news, or even by donating to restoration efforts.
