Examining chestnut blight in local forests

This is a part of the forest health class that we have here, part of the forest pathology part of it. We're near John's Creek in a chestnut restoration orchard. So, looking at hybrid resistance to chestnut blight. Chestnut blight is one of our worst diseases that we've seen impact our native tree species. So, the American chestnut was essentially wiped out back in the 1900s. So, looking now at resistance breeding programs, helping the students understand what resistance breeding is, but then also showing them the benefits and also the drawbacks of these different programs. We've been so lucky to have the American Chestnut Foundation people here. Virginia Department of Forestry came out. So we have quite a wide range of scientists from the American Chestnut Foundation. They're really ones on the ground doing this hybrid resistance breeding. So it's been exciting that students have been able to be immersed with those people as well and understand a little bit more about their foundation. Being able to come out here with professionals, getting to see a little preview of what their job is and their day to day experience, it's really helpful to build up those practical skills and know the information that's really, really essential to us. The part that I found most interesting that we did today was the rating system for these American chestnuts. So we're looking through several different physical traits that were apparent on these trees. We're looking at some of the cankers that we've seen there, whether they're swollen, they're sunken or they're flat. The chestnut blight's airborne. So if that has that exposed wood, then that chestnut blight is able to get in there a lot easier. We're also looking at the die back or the canopy health and fullness there, and also if there's a lot of stump sprouts. Stuff like this will be pretty helpful if I'm going into consulting, able to come out in the landscape, and maybe if there's American chestnuts, now I know more about what to do. "Yeah, the line get blurred between bear injury and canker. Exactly..." These students are going to be going into the field in the next year really, and starting working at industries that are looking at pathogens and pests that are impacting just timber production, and then also just ecosystems in general. Showing them what breeding programs are already in place will help them find jobs. But then also take this knowledge to their jobs that might not only be about chestnuts, but just about any treat disease in general that they can see in their jobs.