The great tragedy of the American Chestnut tree.

I always wondered why the drawings of Daniel Boone and early settlers showed giant trees. They seemed to be in an area that was nothing like the Appalachians that I understood. I always chalked it up to greedy lumber companies cutting them all down. But this is amazing history and a warning of the damage one could create by importing foreign plants and seeds. We are even carful these days with taking cut wood across state lines. We have many foreign species in the great lakes. Pine beetles are everywhere now. For as tough as this planet is, it's eco system is sometimes very fickle.



They say that the American chestnut was amazing for railroad ties, constructing fences, houses. Very durable. Some guy got the idea to import some Asian Chestnut tree seeds for some reason. Maybe they grew faster, I don't remember, but I'm pretty sure it's in the video. With those Asian seeds came the fungus that the Asian Chestnut was immune to, but the American Chestnut was wiped out by it.