area, with reports coming in from Maryland and Virginia. Affected trees succumbed quickly.Д«y 1908, blight had made its way to the D.C. The zoo's forester found small orange-red dots on the bark of chestnut trees, and cankers encircling the trunks. The story of the American chestnut's demise starts in 1904, at the Bronx Zoo in New York City. Nowadays, the 'redwood of the East' very rarely grows large enough to flower and bear fruit. But the roots can live on, repeatedly sending up new sprouts, only to have them knocked down after a few years. When chestnut blight attacks, it girdles the tree's trunk, cutting off nutrients and killing everything above. 'That's the tree trying to make another go at it,' says Popkin. This small tree is what is known as a stump sprout - a young tree growing from old roots. The chestnut is identifiable by its sharply saw-toothed leaves (beeches have much shallower serrations, while chestnut oaks have rounded serrations.)

The tree he's stopped at is a completely unremarkable sapling, blending in with nearby beech and chestnut oaks, which have similar leaves. In Rock Creek Park, a handful of American chestnuts can be found on the steep eastern ridge above the creek. Nowadays, finding surviving chestnuts isn't easy - but a few hundred have been documented growing wild recently in the District, Maryland and Virginia. area, accounting for as many as one in four trees in some places. It could make a comeback, thanks to modern science and a highly committed cadre of chestnut aficionados, including dozens of locals who volunteer their time and land in an attempt to bring the tree back from the brink of extinction.ДЄmerican chestnuts were once among the most common trees in forests in the D.C. The tree was wiped out a century ago by blight, but the American chestnut can still be found clinging to life in forests around D.C. It was an amazing food source: each fall, the tree would drop an unbelievable bounty of tasty and nutritious nuts - feeding wildlife, livestock and people. The American chestnut tree was once called 'the redwood of the East' because of how huge it could grow. Bruce Levine, with the American Chestnut Foundation, looks for a ripe chestnut at an orchard of hybrid trees.

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