An open burr of the American chestnut tree. Functionally extinct since the mid-20th century, the American Chestnut Foundation has been spearheading a multi-pronged approach to bring the tree back to life.
The American Chestnut Foundation
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The American Chestnut Foundation
An open burr of the American chestnut tree. Functionally extinct since the mid-20th century, the American Chestnut Foundation has been spearheading a multi-pronged approach to bring the tree back to life.
The American Chestnut Foundation
In the early 20th century, a blight fungus wiped out most of the 4 billion American chestnut trees on the eastern seaboard. The loss was ecologically devastating. Short Wave host Emily Kwong dives deep into how scientists are trying to resurrect the American chestnut tree — and about the controversy over a plan to plant genetically modified chestnuts in the wild.
Want to hear about more efforts to recover endangered or lost species? Let us know by emailing shortwave@npr.org!
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This episode was originally produced by Brit Hanson and edited by Viet Le. Special thanks to Dan Charles for his help with the original episode. The update for this episode was reported by Emily Kwong and produced and edited by Rebecca Ramirez.
