UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation will feature the history, blight and recovery of the American chestnut tree at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, Jan. 7-14 in Harrisburg.

Volunteers will staff the foundation's booth in the Farm and Family Area, showcasing the chapter’s crossbreeding efforts to create a blight-resistant chestnut tree.

Children and families can learn about the saga of the American chestnut tree and its rebound through "Charlie Chestnut" coloring books, developed by the New York Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation. Presentations will take place on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. on Stage 1 of the Main Hall, and Friday, Jan. 13 at 1 p.m. on Stage 2 in the Main Hall.

Pennsylvania was the densest area of the chestnut's native range prior to the tree's demise from the blight, a lethal fungus imported from Asia in the late 19th century. More than half of the state's hardwoods were American chestnut trees, and the chestnut lumber industry was a critical sector of the state’s economy.

This mission of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation is to restore the American chestnut tree to the forests of Pennsylvania and the eastern United States. Using the backcross method of breeding developed by the organization’s founders, the foundation is developing blight-resistant chestnuts, which will be adapted to different growth zones in their natural range and retain as many of the American chestnut traits as possible.

It takes six generations of breeding and five to 10 years per generation to develop a disease-resistant American chestnut tree. The foundation and its volunteers throughout the state maintain 171 orchards across Pennsylvania and have planted more than 22,100 trees.

For more information about the return of the American chestnut, the American Chestnut Foundation or volunteer opportunities, contact Sara Fitzsimmons, tree breeding coordinator, at (814) 863-7192 or by e-mail at sff3@psu.edu, or visit the following websites: http://chestnut.cas.psu.edu, http://www.patacf.org and http://www.acf.org.

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Editors: Contact Sara Fitzsimmons at (814) 863-7192 or by e-mail at sff3@psu.edu.

Writer-editor: Jeff Mulhollem Penn State Ag Sciences News 814-863-2719