By Lois Breault-Melican and Denis Melican
The Good
Our involvement in American chestnut restoration began unexpectedly during a hiking program at Moore State Park in Paxton, MA in fall 2002. Near the end of the hike, a participant pointed out some ghastly looking, blight-stricken chestnut stump sprouts along the trail and asked if we had heard about the efforts of the American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) to restore the species. We had not, but as environmental agency employees stationed at a state park known for its conservation value, we went straight to the park headquarters to check out the TACF website. Wow, this sounded like something we would be interested in! We immediately decided to join TACF, beginning our chestnut journey.
The following spring, along with volunteers and TACF MA/RI Chapter members, we planted a 233-tree research orchard at the park. Establishing this orchard was made possible with highly selected seeds from Meadowview Farm, TACF’s main farm in SW Virginia. To this day, we are proud of this initial planting and our stewardship of it over the years. It was the first orchard of its kind on state land in Massachusetts, and became part of a network of over 20 similar research orchards which served as the foundation for TACF’s MA/RI Chapter’s chestnut breeding program. Establishing the orchard consisted of backcrossing and intercrossing several generations of American and Chinese chestnut trees to eventually end up with trees that are 93.75% American and 6.25% Chinese. The breeding program concluded with the establishment of seed-production orchards, where the selected trees would yield nuts suitable for planting in forests. This was the approach chosen by TACF to restore the American chestnut population to its native range. Yup, it was tree time, and patience was the key, because restoration efforts would necessarily span many decades.
We really loved being involved with growing chestnut trees. Both Denis and I became board members of the MA/RI Chapter, and I was eventually elected Chapter President. We enjoyed the physical labor necessary for orchard care such as mowing, weeding, replacement plantings, starting new plots, record-keeping and deer-fence installation.. Soon we were traveling from Cape Cod to the Berkshires regularly, tending orchards and presenting chestnut talks at garden clubs, libraries, and schools. We attended local and national meetings and met many chestnut enthusiasts and other TACF members who were always willing to share their knowledge with us. We were thrilled to be doing this work and enjoyed it so much.
The Bad
Over time, we began hearing murmurings of genetic engineering (GE) to bring back the chestnut. This was entirely new to us, and we were more than a bit uneasy about using this technology to restore the trees because we had confidence that the backcross & intercross breeding program would be successful. This practice of creating GE trees was being proposed by the NY State TACF Chapter. In reality, it was the New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) who were genetically engineering trees, with the intention of obtaining governmental approval for their unregulated release into the wild. We were assured that each state chapter could choose whether to participate in genetic engineering initiatives or not, but in reality, it was expected that all TACF chapters would support the program, and many did participate.
Our growing concerns about the GE chestnut metastasized when we read Susan Frienkel’s excellent book The American Chestnut, Life & Death & Rebirth of a Perfect Tree. It became unavoidably apparent that our concerns were real and very serious. It was disturbing to learn that deep-pocketed corporate interests were using the sentimental sweetness of the chestnut rescue story to disguise the actual long-term objective: public acceptance of utilizing genetic engineering on other forest trees to create huge, industrial, monoculture plantations. Her book contains so much information about what was going on behind the scenes, and we recommend it highly to anyone wanting to know about this part of TACF’s restoration objectives.
After much consideration I resigned as president of the Massachusetts/Rhode Island chapter of TACF, and Denis resigned from the board. In our view, the widespread release of a genetically engineered tree represented a large-scale and irreversible experiment—one that could fail or worsen existing pressures on forest ecosystems. We chose not to participate.
The Very, Very, Very Good
In this very stressful time, while we were seeking alternative approaches, and searching out non-GE chestnut growers, we came across the Global Justice Ecology Project (GJEP) whose Campaign to ‘Stop GE Trees’ addressed concerns like ours. Established in 2003, their goal was to build local, national and international alliances with action to address the intertwined root causes of social injustice, ecological destruction and economic domination. GJEP offered guidance and helped us find a constructive path forward. We were so lucky to discover GJEP. We’ve become great supporters of their program, and are deeply grateful for their help.
We also became better acquainted with the American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation (ACCF), based in southwestern Virginia. Like TACF, they are committed to restoring the American chestnut, but their approach centers on locating, propagating, and planting seeds from pure American chestnut trees found in local forests, rather than introducing hybrid or genetically engineered material. They have been doing this work in SW Virginia since the mid-1980s and now have harvestable orchards where these trees grow. This philosophy resonated deeply with us, and we became members of ACCF. We learned about their restoration model and their primary requirement—that pure American chestnut seeds not be planted near any hybrid trees. This underscored the importance of protecting the genetic integrity of pure American chestnut trees. For restoration to succeed, their trees must be grown together in carefully selected locations away from hybrid chestnuts. They needed to be tended over time, until they reach maturity, with reports sent to ACCF each year. At last, we could be back to promoting, planting and taking care of chestnuts again.
In fall 2021, we were invited to help with the chestnut harvest in southwestern Virginia. We were so excited! Meeting and working with Gary and Lucille Griffin in their orchard was a profound and exhilarating experience. Seeing healthy chestnut trees with dark green, glossy leaves, and learning details about chestnut blight from Gary Griffin remains one of the most meaningful moments of our lives. We transported ACCF chestnuts back home from Virginia to Massachusetts, stored them carefully over the winter, and planted them in deep pots in the spring. In accordance with ACCF’s guidance, we began seeking out partners and sites where the trees would be protected, maintained, and monitored over time.
Our most significant partnership to date has developed with the New England Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA. As a premier public garden with naturally occurring chestnut trees across its property, it offered an ideal setting for this work. Their former land steward, Robert Graham—a long-time chestnut advocate—agreed to partner with ACCF and begin planting chestnut seeds at the Garden. We started adding a few of the chestnut seedlings we had grown into the formal gardens. In the following years, ACCF sent the Garden more seeds which we planted in the wilder woodland areas. The Garden now has an agreement with ACCF to receive and grow pure American chestnut seeds annually, advancing the long-term goal of restoring this iconic species.
Many other chestnut partnerships have developed over years, including plantings at the Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary in Wales, MA, the Hadwen Arboretum in Worcester, M
A, and the Seeds of Solidarity Farm in Orange, MA. Recently, with Congressman Jim McGovern’s assistance, on land protected by the Greater Worcester Land Trust in Holden, we planted three ACCF American chestnut trees. It’s our hope that as the pure American chestnuts from ACCF become more available, we can plant these trees on conservation land whenever possible.
We look forward to working with New England Botanic Garden and other partners, both new and old, in bringing back this iconic tree.
Lois Breault-Melican and Denis Melican
Denis earned his degree from Quinsigamond Community College, while Lois completed her studies at Becker College, which included a horticulture certificate. Subsequently, Lois attended the New England School of Gardening at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill as well as Clark University. Denis served as a Park Supervisor and Lois was an Interpretive Coordinator at the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation. Both participated in programs at the Arnold Arboretum’s Institute for Cultural and Historic Landscape Studies and attended Radcliffe Seminars. Their goal is to work with ACCF, local chestnut farmers, local land trusts and others to reintroduce healthy, pure, non-GE American chestnuts into the forested landscape and selected garden locations.