Matthew, I would love to talk to someone old enough to remember the chestnut in its former pre-blight glory. Unfortunantly that person would be well up in years. Probably in the 90s.
JP On Oct 22, 6:26 pm, Matthew Hannum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > James: > > That looks like a very nice exhibit, though I we didn't need such a > memorial and that the chestnuts were still with us in their former > glory. > > I took my parents to a local park over the weekend and showed them a > few American Chestnut trees, including one that stood about 20+ feet > tall. I can safely say that they have never seen any member of this > species alive since the Blight had basically destroyed the tree by > WWII. It was a bittersweet moment since that one, sad little tree is > merely a shadow of what once was... and even it had some signs of the > Blight (loosening bark, deformations in the truck, etc.) > > If it were just the American Chestnut we had lost, it would be bad > enough, but the Hemlocks are vanishing, the Ash trees of all kinds are > disappearing, and other exotic threats loom, such as Beech Bark > Disease, various Oak illinesses, the Asian Longhorn Beetle, various > pests in the conifers out west, and so on. At least one can buy DED > resistant Elm trees these days, and hopefully within 10 years or so, > Blight resistant American Chestnuts will be available to the public > for reasonable prices. I just wish humanity wasn't destroying species > (trees or otherwise) faster than we're able to come up with ways to > correct our mistakes. > > Anyway, nice exhibit and one well worth seeing since most people tend > to think of extinct or nearly extinct species as "things in the > distant past" like mammoths, etc. The loss of the American Chestnut is > an eye-opener for many, I am sure. > > On Oct 20, 7:05 pm, James Parton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > Fellow Ents, > > > > The Blue Ridge Parkway has a new Destination Center near Asheville NC that > > has a major display dedicated to the American Chestnut tree. In fact it is > > the dominant attraction in the building. It gives basic info on the tree > > and it's contribution to American History and it's demise to the blight. > > Even the Hemlock's peril is mentioned for comparison. It is a cool display > > even though the artificial nuts in the display look more Chinese in size > > than American. It even has an artificial chestnut limb complete with leaves. > > > > It is a shame that this is the closest many people will ever get to an > > American Chestnut, not realizing that they still exist, even if at a > > reduced state. The chestnut trees of Mt. Pisgah are mentioned here, > > which is a really good place to view living trees in number. > > > > http://carolinas-tacf.org/newsletters/Carolinas_Newsletter_Spring_200... > > > > > James P > > > __________________________________________________ > > Do You Yahoo!? > > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection > > aroundhttp://mail.yahoo.com > > > DSC_6740.JPG > > 88KViewDownload > > > DSC_6742.JPG > > 106KViewDownload- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
