Sunday, November 22nd was a special day for conservationists. An event celebrating the recent planting of over 700 Restoration Chestnut Trees on the 1,400 acre conservation easement in Big East Fork, Franklin was held.
Sponsored by The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF),Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation (TennGreen), and Tennessee Environmental Council (TEC), the trees are part of major conservation efforts to restore virus-resistant American Chestnut trees to middle Tennessee.
Once an essential component of the entire eastern US ecosystem, the American Chestnut tree was important as food and home to wildlife, the nuts as cash crop to rural farmers, and the beautiful, hearty wood ideal for fencing, railroads, construction, furniture and musical instruments.
Approximately one hundred years ago, entire Chestnut forests succumbed to a “blight”- an airborne fungus from Asia. Reforesting projects by TACF have introduced a blight-resistant genetic modification with the appearance of the original tree.
The successful reforestation in Big East Fork will, over time, become a mature, mixed species chestnut forest, providing food and habitat for wildlife, and serving other important benefits to the ecosystem. It will also offer a delightful opportunity to visitors of Big East Fork Retreat and Farms, who can enjoy walking among the lofty, statuesque chestnut forest.
Big East Fork is located in Franklin, near Leiper’s Fork at 5375 Big East Fork Road.
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