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Joe
Kilpatrick, owner of The Blueberry Farm, and his granddaughter,
Haile Wright, 3, carry chestnut saplings. (Messenger photo/Ken
Caruthers)
Tree scientists hope to
repopulate the Chestnut Flat community in Walker County with the
tree that is its namesake.
The Georgia chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation
planned to plant at least four of the native trees on Friday,
Nov. 5 at The Blueberry Farm, which is east of LaFayette, said
acting chapter president Don Davis. Eventually researchers hope
to revive the tree’s population in the eastern United States.
Joe Kilpatrick, proprietor at the farm, said he is happy to
donate the space to grow the endangered tree. He is receiving no
compensation other than the trees that live and a sense of
satisfaction.
“Dr. Davis just called me out of the blue a couple of weeks
ago, asking if we would be interested in hosting a site for
American chestnuts,” Kilpatrick said. “We have plenty of space
with nothing but grass on it.”
About three acres would be suitable for tree growth,
Kilpatrick said.
“He saw how we irrigate and take care of the plants, and
thought we might be good caretakers of these chestnut trees,” he
said. “You do have to kind of baby them. We’ll run drip
irrigation and take care of them.”
Blight began claiming native chestnuts in 1904 in New York
when some Asian plants contaminated American plants, Davis said.
The fungus can be transferred between plants and even humans, but
only destroys American chestnut trees that were not immune to the
foreign fungus.
The disease spread south through forests at a rate of 50 miles
per year, he said. By 1940, most of the trees that once covered
the mountains had perished.
At one time, some groves rained chestnuts onto the ground
until they lay four inches deep on the ground, making it
practically impossible to hike up the mountainous areas chestnuts
prefer, he said.
Chestnut Flat is a curious exception, he said.
One reason the Blueberry Farm makes a good location for
planting the trees is the climatic similarity between the two
plants, Davis said. Both plants need a lot of water that drains
quickly, and the soil in Chestnut Flat accommodates the plants’
needs.
Norman Edwards, director of the University of Georgia County
Extension Office in Walker, said many property owners felled
their chestnut trees to sell the valued lumber before the blight
arrived to destroy it. Logging the trees removed the chance of
any disease-resistant trees surviving.
The Georgia chapter of the tree organization is working to
repopulate American forests with the Meadowview Research Farm in
Meadowview, W.Va., Davis said. Researchers crossbred American and
Asian chestnut trees to create a blight-resistant strain.
Two of the trees planted Friday were produced at Meadowview,
and two are native American chestnuts. The two native plants are
expected to die of the blight, but may be able to pollinate with
the resistant trees to improve offspring.
After the planting, that pair of disease-free trees would be
the first in Georgia, Davis said.
Davis called chestnuts “the perfect trees” that grew up to 12
feet in diameter. The lumber is dense and rot-resistant, making
it perfect for buildings, furniture and telephone poles.
The nuts fed wildlife, livestock and people, and its blossoms
helped bees produce especially tasty honey, he said.
For more information about chestnut trees and the American
Chestnut Association, visit
www.acf.org.
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