There is a darkness in the forest – a depth beyond the obvious. Maybe it is age. Maybe it is that a forest has been a forest for a very long time, and that being in one makes us understand that we are visitors here. Trees struggle. They do not just live, they struggle and they die - they are torn by the struggle and very few, maybe one in one hundred thousand survive the forest – live beyond it and ultimately above it. A forest is not just a forum of trees – it is a symphony of life, both plant and animal. The trees we see are the products of struggle…a twist from a storm… a lean or a reach to light… a casting off of weakness in the ever-present effort to live. Trees are rooted in their own death.        

 Entering a forest speaks to us of our own struggle. Not long ago people feared the forest.  Perhaps we would fear it more if we lived in it the way our ancestors did or as wildlife does.  It is not so much that we are out of touch with a forest as it is that we are out of touch with struggle. We assume a lot – we believe that life just is - that because we are here we should be here. We might see life as a gift, but once given, once we are here, we assume we are here to stay. A forest denies us this fantasy. Life, a forest says, is not a gift but an attempt. It is not an end and it is not a beginning, it is being in the middle – of everything.

Forests change over time through a process of succession as tree species become dominant or lose out to other species. It is a natural process, but with introduced blights, pathogens and non native tree species our forests are being transformed before our eyes. Succession is sped-up and wildlife suffers as food sources disappear and other less productive species replace them. This is of course not just a local problem; as populations have grown and

cultures have become more connected through travel and commerce, a huge exchange of plant species and their accompanying problems have been transported all over the earth.

 The American chestnut, nicknamed the redwood of the east because of its immense size and stature in the eastern forests, was the dominant tree east of the Mississippi until early in the last century. It is now blighted by an introduced Asian fungus, and survives in eastern forests only as an under-story plant resurrected from the roots of ancient trees each season. Rarely do the trees gain enough access to light to bloom and rarer still do trees produce a nut crop. The result has been devastating for humans and animals. The nutritious nuts were so prodigious that they sustained families through long winters and fed countless wildlife populations. Native Americans and colonists survived on the chestnuts and the yearly bounty brought much needed income to mountain people. Chestnut lumber was resistant to rot and is still found in many of the log cabins in the East built before the turn of the last century. As visitors approached the Blue Ridge Mountains in the spring they often thought they saw snow on the mountainsides – the vision was the white bloom masses of the chestnuts. The acrid scent of the bloom traveled on the breeze for miles. Many of the trees are still struggling to survive. Each spring the old roots send up new shoots and each year the shoots from the previous year are killed by the girdling affect of the blight. The resulting death cluster is constantly spreading outward from the old roots.    

Photo courtesy: The American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation

Photos courtesy: American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation.

The Discovery Program has embarked on a mission called the American Forest Project, and local tree species affected by various introduced maladies including the American elm, eastern hemlock, and the American chestnut are being cultivated and planted in the Virginia Piedmont area. So far this year 100 American chestnut and 100 American elm trees have been planted. Two hundred chestnuts were donated to the American Forest Project by ACCF in the fall of 2004 and will be potted this winter. They will be available in the fall of 2005. The Discovery Program, located at Locust Grove and Prospect Heights Middle Schools in Orange County, Virginia seeks to back up the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) in science while developing a community service and outreach program for its students. So far it has been a terrific success for student learning and community outreach.

If you are interested in donating to the Discovery Programs’ American Forest Project, would like to purchase these rare trees, or you have suitable land and would like to become a cooperating grower please contact either Smith Coleman at LGMS or Lars Holmstrom at PHMS.

Kindest Thanks,

Smith Coleman

Discovery Program Director, LGMS

Smith Coleman                                                 Lars Holmstrom

LGMS Discovery Program Director                  PHMS Discovery Program Director

scoleman@ocss-va.org                                      lholmstrom@ocss-va.org

The American Forest Project is seeking mother trees. Should you spot a chestnut tree that displays resistance to the blight fungus please contact Smith Coleman or Lars Holmstrom with the Discovery Program. There are chestnuts surviving the blight, however the vast majority have virtually no resistance. Note them while hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Typically new shoots are accompanied by a death cluster – stalks of former shoots killed by the girdling blight infection. The Discovery students found and tagged numerous trees on Potomac Appalachian Trail Club land near Sperryville, Va. You might also find examples of the Asian chestnut. These trees produce nuts, but because they are an orchard tree (the size of an apple tree) they do not compete in an eastern deciduous forest. Their leaves are fuzzy underneath and have shallow indentations as compared to the deeply indented American tree leaf shown to the right.

Photos courtesy: Smokey Mountain Library Museum.