Chestnut Orchard Established at UMaine’s Penobscot Experimental Forest
Contact: Laura Kenefic (207) 581-2794; David Munson (207) 581-3777
ORONO, Maine – The American Chestnut Foundation, working together with UMaine and the U.S. Forest Service, has established a new chestnut orchard at the Penobscot Experimental Forest in Bradley, Maine. The goal of the orchard is to develop a new strain of chestnut trees that are resistant to chestnut blight.
Prized for its valuable wood and plentiful nuts, the American chestnut tree was devastated by the fungal blight during the first half of last century. TACF will be applying specialized breeding techniques to develop a blight-resistant tree that still retains the traits of an American chestnut.
University Forests Office staff, under the direction of Forest Manager Alan Kimball, prepared the site for the new orchard, which is currently being planted by TACF staff with assistance from UMaine School of Forest Resources graduate student Jamie Weaver.
The trees at the PEF are the fourth generation of a six-generation program, and exhibit more than 90 percent of the characteristics of the American chestnut. The trees are the offspring of two mother trees that have survived in Maine. The pollen source was from TACF research farm in Virginia.
In approximately six years the trees will start producing chestnuts and will be evaluated for blight resistance once again. Those trees which show the best qualities will be used to establish the next generation by inter-breeding with other fourth generation hybrid chestnut trees now growing in other experimental orchards in Maine.
If all goes according to plan, the mighty chestnut tree will once again become a common sight in the forests of New England.