Recently, Michael and Ann Ritter joined Bill McShea of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and staff of The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) and hiked out in the humid, 90 degree July heat to see if the American chestnut seedlings that were still growing at the end of the 2013 study were still surviving. We split into three teams, and tackled the eastern, quarry, and western ridges.
Once we found sites with GPS points, remaining seedlings were measured for height. Seedlings averaged between 30cm and 50cm, about the same height as at the end of the study. One possibility is that deer browse is holding seedling back, but chestnuts also will wait for a canopy gap, then maximize growth using stored resources in the roots from prior years.
Anecdotally, a rough estimation is that 50% of the seedlings noted at the end of the study were still alive. What is important are the data secured from the study–deciphering where and how chestnuts have the best chance of survival. These data will be critical once reforestation efforts begin with the blight resistant chestnut developed by TACF.
Seeds and seedlings were originally planted and monitored at 150 sites across the Bull Run Mountains during a 2012-2013 study by SCBI and TACF staff, and BRMC volunteers. We will continue to revisit sites every few years, tracking progress of the seedlings into the future.
