Champion: The Comeback Tale of the American Chestnut Tree

For thou­sands of years Amer­i­can Chest­nut trees grew plen­ti­ful­ly in the forests of east­ern North Amer­i­ca. Peo­ple and ani­mals relied on them for food and shel­ter. The tree con­nect­ed the east and west coasts when it became wide­ly used in the con­struc­tion of rail­road tracks and for tele­phone poles. Then dis­as­ter struck. In the ear­ly 1900s, a tiny par­a­site found its way to North Amer­i­ca. What began in the bark of a few trees soon became an unstop­pable killing force that killed bil­lions of chest­nut trees.

Today, due to the work of sci­en­tists and vol­un­teers, the Amer­i­can Chest­nut tree is poised for a come­back. Its sto­ry is one of loss, dev­as­ta­tion, inves­ti­ga­tion, and restoration.