Student speaks with WABI about efforts to restore American Chestnut tree
Amanda Barbiere, a University of Maine student interning with the American Chestnut Foundation, was interviewed by WABI (Channel 5) for a report about how Maine is part of a national effort to restore the tree. A Stetson seed orchard that was planted in 2013 is among a handful in Maine being used as a testing ground for growing a resistant strain of the American Chestnut, WABI reported. “The most surprising to me was just how quickly they have grown these past few years. And we’ve also had a pretty good survival rate as well,” Barbiere said. She also is working with scientists at UMaine on seedlings in a greenhouse. Their process is similar to what’s going on at the seed orchards, with the goal of eventually being able to isolate surviving species earlier in their growing period, the report states.