UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- In a ceremony to celebrate another step toward establishing blight-resistant American chestnut trees and the expansion of the partnership between Penn State and the American Chestnut Foundation (TACF), a grove of experimental chestnut tree seedlings will be planted on June 24 at the site of the university's new arboretum.

Until a century ago, the American chestnut was one of the most abundant tree species in eastern North America. Today wild chestnut trees survive only as short-lived stump sprouts that rarely flower and seldom produce fruit. In the early 1900s, an introduced fungus spread in the United States, decimating this species, which was greatly valued for the lumber and food it provided to both humans and wildlife. American chestnuts had little immunity to the disease.

The arboretum will be located on a 395-acre tract north of Penn State's University Park campus near State College, between Park Avenue and the Mount Nittany Expressway. It is the last undeveloped piece of land adjacent to the campus. A 20,000-square-foot education center at the arboretum will include classrooms, meeting rooms, a small café and gift shop, administrative offices, and an outdoor patio garden for gatherings, displays and arts performances.

"We are extremely happy to forge this cooperation between Penn State and TACF through the establishment of this plantation in the arboretum," says Kim Steiner, arboretum director. "The American chestnut was once the dominant tree species in Pennsylvania, so it is extremely important for us to be working toward restoring the species. Penn State has three scientists participating in chestnut research through the support of the Robertson Family Endowment for the Reestablishment of the American Chestnut and an endowment from the Louis W. Schatz Center for Tree Molecular Genetics."

TACF hopes to build on Penn State's involvement in chestnut research by establishing an office in the education center at the arboretum to provide technical assistance for regional breeding efforts in Pennsylvania, New York, New England and possibly other northeastern states. "In our agreement with Penn State, we have a goal to assign two staff members to the arboretum," says Marshal Case, director of the foundation. "One would work on the ongoing science of dealing with the blight leading up to the reforestation plans for the chestnut, and the second would be an extension position to work with our other state chapters in the northern Appalachian region."

The foundation operates a research farm in Virginia and is headquartered in Vermont. A nonprofit organization, it has approximately 5,000 members nationally and 600 in Pennsylvania. The trees to be planted this month at the arboretum are the outcome of TACF breeding efforts begun in 1983 using pedigreed, hybrid material created by U.S. Department of Agriculture breeders back in the 1940s.

By crossing the American chestnut tree with the smaller, less tree-like Chinese chestnut, researchers have created a hybrid chestnut strain that carries genes for blight-resistance. By repeatedly back-crossing the hybrid with the American chestnut, a variety of chestnut can be created that is essentially American chestnut in all respects except for being resistant to blight. The research involves inoculating the young trees with the blight through small wounds on the trunk. Trees that are not killed by the blight can be used in further breeding.

The 6-inch seedlings to be planted this month at the arboretum site will be fifth-generation backcrossed trees. Researchers expect that the offspring of these trees, after intensive selection and thinning of the orchard, will be the first seedlings that can be used for restoring this tree to its rightful place in American forests. It takes about six years for chestnut trees to bear seed.

"With the establishment of this joint TACF/Penn State plantation, we are celebrating an important milestone in an almost century-long effort to restore American chestnut," says Steiner. "Our scientists believe that reforestation can begin when these trees start bearing seed."

From the American Chestnut Foundation's point of view, the partnership with Penn State is a landmark. "This is a major partnership for The American Chestnut Foundation's mission to restore American chestnut to the eastern forest ecosystem," says Case. "Partnering with the Arboretum at Penn State brings The American Chestnut Foundation to a new level of scientific operation and public education."

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EDITORS: Contact Kim Steiner at 814-865-9351 or Steiner@psu.edu.

Contact: Jeff Mulhollem jjm29@psu.edu 814-863-2719 814-865-1068 fax #194