The American Chestnut: An Environmental History and a Cautionary Tale with Author Dr. Donald Davis

In this episode of Breaking Green, we talk with Dr. Donald Davis, author of The American Chestnut: An Environmental History. His exhaustive book explores how the American chestnut tree has shaped history, as well as the cultural and environmental significance of the once ubiquitous tree.

Davis calls the story of the American chestnut a cautionary tale of unintended consequences, and criticizes plans to conduct a massive and irreversible experiment by releasing genetically engineered American chestnuts into the wild.

In 1904, at the Bronx Zoological Park, chestnut trees were dying from a spore borne blight brought to the United States by Japanese chestnut trees that were imported by commercial nurseries.

Now, the American chestnut is referred to as “functionally extinct” and forests where the species was once dominant have long since transitioned from oak chestnut to oak hickory forests.

Davis is an independent scholar, author and former Fulbright fellow. He has authored or edited seven books. His book, Where There are Mountains: An Environmental History of the Southern Appalachians, won the prestigious Philip D. Reed environmental writing award. Davis was also the founding member of the Georgia Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation, serving as its president from 2005 to 2006. He is currently employed by the Harvard Forest as a research scholar and lives in Washington DC.

To learn more about GE trees visit The Campaign to STOP GE Trees.

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