The American Chestnut tree - its decline and hopes for its return

09/03/2025 19 min
The American Chestnut tree - its decline and hopes for its return

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Episode Synopsis


When a blight hit the American Chestnut tree last century, over 4 billion trees died over a fifty year period. Rural Americans lost a valuable source of food and wood and a significant cultural icon. Now scientists are working to bring it back to the American forests through hybridisation and genetic engineering. But should they?Guest : Bruce Beehler, research associate in the Division of Birds at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History and he wrote an article for the Washington Post you can find it here.