Maine Coast Heritage Trust, which has a location in Topsham, will be working alongside the Maine chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation to plant 10 young American chestnut trees at Cousins River Fields and Marsh Preserve, a newly protected 82-acre property in Yarmouth that includes a 25-acre field and a significant tidal wetland. The planting is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, June 14, at 223 Granite St., Yarmouth.

Roger Crockett stands next to an American chestnut tree his property in Hebron in 2021. The tree is thought to be one of the biggest in the country. Andree Kehn / Sun Journal file photo

Maine is the northernmost end of chestnuts native range, with historically sparser populations. In more southern areas, with denser populations, blight spreads much more readily. This has resulted in Maine having more mature, wild flowering American chestnuts than any other state. The group is planting its “wild type” seeds to preserve the native population of trees and the genetic diversity they possess. The trees planted will eventually succumb to blight, but they will hopefully produce more seeds before that time comes. As the foundation works to develop a blight-resistant American chestnut, the trees at Cousins River Fields & Marsh Preserve will keep the species alive and genetically diverse, in hopes that they can one day be cross-pollinated and produce blight-resistant offspring.

American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was once the foundation of many eastern United States forests, according to MCHT. It was among the largest, tallest and fastest-growing trees in forests from the Mississippi River to the coast of Maine. However, in the late 1800s, blight was introduced on imported Japanese chestnut trees. Chestnut blight was discovered at the Bronx Zoo in 1904, and less than 50 years later, the American chestnut was rendered functionally extinct. The loss of the American chestnut has had cascading effects on the entire food web, dramatically altering population dynamics of the forest. When faced with competition from soil microorganisms, the blight cannot survive underground. This has resulted in colossal root systems of the chestnuts sending out suckering sprouts. However, these sprouts typically succumb to blight before they can produce nuts.

Ann Siekman holds the spiny shell of an American chestnut seed in Hebron in 2021. Anna Gouveia / Sun Journal file photo

The nuts to be planted Friday were gathered from rare surviving wild trees or their progeny. Many of the mother trees have since died but The American Chestnut Foundation volunteers have perpetuated the species and made breeding and future restoration possible. Every few years, more trees will be planted to create a mixed-aged stand. This will offer training and meaningful roles for the next generation who will plant (and maybe eat) the nuts from these trees. Volunteers from the foundation will water and monitor the trees planted. This project will build the local community’s capacity for future larger-scale forest restoration.