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By LYT WOOD
County Forrstor
Members of older generations remember the American chestnut forests. Evidence of the chestnut forests of the past can still be seen in the woods: lifeless, weathered-gray tree-trunks stand like monuments in the midst of the oaks, maples, and hickories that took their place.
There are many thousands of American chestnut trees that are still living today in Rappahannock County. But nearly all of these are small sprouts that repeatedly spring up and die back again, originating from stumps and roots of trees that were killed over 50 years ago. So the microscopic fungus that causes the condition known as the "chestnut blight" continues to suppress the mighty American chestnut.
The Chestnut Tree Bark Disease, as it was called, was brought over from Asia on Chinese or Japanese trees that were imported for ornamental and orchard plantings. Asian chestnut trees provide a niche (or living-place) for the fungus, but are not harmed by it. These trees and fungi have co-existed for eons in a state of mutual well-being.
It is interesting to note that the chestnut blight fungus
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