Dr. Hill Craddock, Davenport assistant professor of biology, biological and environmental sciences, calls restoring the American chestnut tree \u201cthe right thing to do,\u201d especially since the blight that destroyed the US population of the American chestnut tree was caused by human carelessness.<\/p>\n
The blight, imported to the U.S. on Asian chestnut trees in the early 1900s, is a fungus that spreads via spores in the air, raindrops or animals. By 1950, America\u2019s population of mature chestnut trees was virtually wiped out. \u201cIt\u2019s been called the worst ecological disaster in North America since the Ice Age, billions of trees over thousands of square miles of land,\u201d said Craddock.<\/p>\n
As part of a national restoration effort, Craddock and his team have been breeding blight resistant chestnut trees and planting them in forests and private orchards, which are operated by volunteer chestnut tree enthusiasts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr. Hill Craddock, Davenport assistant professor of biology, biological and environmental sciences, calls restoring the American chestnut tree \u201cthe right thing to do,\u201d especially since the blight that destroyed the US population of the American chestnut tree was caused by human carelessness. The blight, imported to the U.S. on Asian chestnut trees in the early… <\/p>\n