American chestnut restoration and mineland reclamation: Bringing technologies together

Background/Question/Methods

The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was long recognized as the premier timber and wildlife tree species in the eastern United States. It has been largely ignored by those doing modern restoration ecology because of its virtual loss from the Eastern Deciduous Forest caused by blight. However, new possibilities exist for chestnut. Long-term breeding experiments by the American Chestnut Foundation have led to a blight resistant form of the species through backcrosses with resistant Chinese chestnut. These hybrids will soon be ready for deployment. Release of these seeds and seedlings could be directly into competitive forest environments. Alternatively, deployment as part of a chestnut restoration program might occur as part of a reclamation effort. Throughout the central Appalachians, coal mining activities have disturbed thousands of acres that have been reclaimed largely as grassland. These grasslands typically represent arrested succession—they are unable to return naturally to the pre-mine condition of forest habitat. We have experimented with different methods of soil treatment to permit the reintroduction of chestnut on minelands while assisting with natural successional processes.

Results/Conclusions

Using combinations of deep soil ripping (to 1 m) combined with plowing and disking, we have achieved high rates of chestnut survival (> 90%; 1200 seedlings) after one year. All metrics of seedling vigor (height, diameter, leaf area, etc.) indicate that they are able to grow well on mineland environments after aggressive grasses have been controlled and soil compaction has been lightened. We propose the use of these soil treatments in mineland reclamation efforts and associated chestnut restoration projects.