Seeds of recovery

A new generation of chestnut trees got a public rollout on New York's Governors Island in a ceremonial groundbreaking Dec, 11 for the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative.
The phrase "a new generation" of chestnuts is literally true, as researchers working with the American Chestnut Foundation have been crossbreeding the domestic species with its Chinese counterpart in hopes of coming up with a blight-resistant tree.
This species would be about 15/16ths American, hopefully with all the attributes that made the chestnut a forest favorite and an economic boon.
These chestnuts will be among the 38 million trees planted to restore lands stripped and mined in the Appalachians. The restoration pledge was made as part of the United Nations' Seven Billion Tree Campaign.
Five chestnuts planted at Governors Island symbolized the hopes of many that the good health of forests may return along the East Coast — the pre-blight natural range of the tree.
Estimates say the disease killed four billion chestnuts, the straight-growing and sturdy tree favored for furniture and construction before it was nearly wiped out in the first half of the past century.
Organizers felt it fitting to reintroduce chestnut trees to New York, as the first realization of the blight problem occurred not far away, near the Bronx Zoo in 1904.
An agreement with the federal Office of Surface Mining has been a catalyst for what some refer to as the chestnut's renaissance.
"The idea of pledging support to the UNEP's Seven Billion Tree Campaign materialized when 12.7 million trees were planted in 2007 on mined land in the Appalachian coal fields" under the Appalachian initiative, said Brent Wahlquist, director of the Office of Surface Mining, at the event.
Trees being planted over the next three years on mined lands are high-value, native hardwoods. The program to restore disturbed land to good health with reforestation will serve as a model for other parts of the world, he said.
Details about the mines reclamation project are available at the chestnut foundation's Web site, acf.org.
"For each American chestnut seed that is planted on a surface mine, up to 600 other native, high-value, hardwood trees, such as red oak, sugar maple, yellow poplar, black walnut, and white oak, may also be planted in the planting mix," it said.
"Because the American chestnut is a cultural icon, its inclusion contributes mightily to the efforts of the Office of Surface Mining to increase reclamation with other high-value hardwood trees, to significantly improve the survival and growth rate of those trees, and to enhance forest habitat ...  
"Its inclusion also results in an enhancement of ancillary environmental benefits of properly reclaimed forests, such as increased carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, and reduced runoff, erosion, sedimentation, and downstream flooding."
Wahlquist noted that university scientists, mine operators, foundation members and school children planted almost 12,000 chestnuts on old mines during Arbor Day events this year. 
"The enthusiasm generated by the planting of those chestnuts was phenomenal. The American chestnut is like a 'magic bean' for surface mine reforestation and OSM anticipates that our partnership with the doundation will play a key role in the reestablishment of healthy and productive forests on mine sites across Appalachia."
While news releases recalled the range of the chestnut tree spread from Maine to Georgia, neither reported a total amount of land intended for the reclamation project.
An Associated Press report estimated 2.7 million mined acres, and around 300,000 acres were suitable for chestnut trees.
The feds solicited volunteers among mine operators to participate in the effort.
While reforesting the stripped lands is the best imaginable use in terms of environmental quality, reaching the lofty goals of restoring good health to the lands and wildlife found there may not be possible without a high amount of acreage becoming part of the program.
Forest fragmentation is considered a culprit in the decline of songbirds, for one through the invasion of their nests by parasitic cowbirds.
Cowbirds lay their own eggs in nests of songbirds and leave it for the victim to raise as its own, according to The Macphail Woods Ecological Forest Project. It is believed that cowbirds can lay 40 eggs in a season.
Research has shown that cowbirds don't practice their subterfuge in nests in the deepest forests that remain, but are most prevalent in the smaller remnants of woods decimated by development.
So, to me, the question is: will the rise of the chestnut tree from the ashes of blight inspire new preservation and conservation efforts?
Will people go out and replant the forests instead of building homes with sweeping lawns, pave parking lots, put up another chain store, on the flattened lands?
Lately, the trend has been to build on every available tract, whether suitable or less-than-suitable. Or so it seems.
Will this reclamation effort foretell the amazing recovery or forest and wildlands? Could billions of chestnuts stand tall over the Twin Counties in a few decades, providing shade, timber, firewood and nuts to roast over an open fire at Christmas?
It's like that old saying about it taking a wise and generous person to plant a tree, under the shade of which he may never sit.
The important thing to remember is the seed has been planted.