Roth helps plant chestnuts, The Piscataquis Observer reports
The Piscataquis Observer reported Brian Roth, the acting director of the Cooperative Forestry Research Unit at the University of Maine, collaborated to plant an American chestnut germplasm conservation orchard at the Law Farm in Dover-Foxcroft. Germplasm are living genetic resources, like seeds. The American chestnut tree grew on more than 200 million acres of the eastern United States before a fungal pathogen caused a blight and killed about 4 billion trees by 1950. The American Chestnut Foundation is working to restore the species, including a planting of 104 seedlings July 18, 2017 at the farm. A sign to inform visitors about the orchard was installed Aug. 2, according to The Piscataquis Observer. The American Chestnut Foundation’s Maine chapter, the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District, science teachers from Foxcroft Academy and Roth collaborated to plant the seedlings.