By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
OLEAN — Jim Brady opened the gates of his 100-acre woodlot in the town of Olean Saturday to more than 60 people interested in seeing dozens of wild American chestnut trees growing in the forest.
The New York Forest Owners Association made Brady’s discovery of about 70 American chestnut trees on his property off Indiana Avenue their Fall Woods Walk.
It is an unusually large number of chestnut trees for any Western New York woodlot, Brady has been told by state forestry experts.
American chestnut trees in New York began succumbing to a blight in 1904. The tree was one the most abundant, ranging from Maine to Georgia. Its wood was prized for its ability to resist decay and its nuts fed a wide variety of wildlife.
The American chestnut is the focus of a large effort to develop blight-resistant varieties, including the William H. White American Chestnut Plantation in Zoar Valley, where burs — spiny seed coverings — are collected and widely planted. The trees develop the blight over time and die.
Brady, of Olean, a retired investment firm manager, purchased the woodlot six years ago and only last year discovered a single American chestnut tree. Then he found another and another. They are located between 2,000 and 2,200 feet altitude.
“The American chestnut tree is functionally extinct,” Brady said. “Most don’t grow very big before they die. These seem to be doing well,” he said of the chestnut trees he’s found so far on his property. He fully expects to find more. “I’m pleased. This is their native range.” The hills around Olean were once loaded with American chestnut trees. By the 1940s, they had pretty much disappeared.
Bready led a long line of people along the trails that cross-cross the woods. He would gather them in open areas so everyone could hear about his experiences with the American chestnut trees on his property.
Brady set up a net under a large American chestnut tree to try and get some of the burs – the spiny-covered seed pods before the critters. There’s an especially large acorn crop this year which may help distract them. Brady invited participants to take burs found on the ground for planting.
“I didn’t know how many people to expect,” Brady said after Saturday’s Woods Walk. He’s usually more concerned about keeping trespassers off the property than opening up the gates. The trail bikes cause ruts in the trails, making them unusable.
One man speaking with Brady during the Woods Walk said he’s found that soon after the trees get burs, they get the blight.
Another said that finding burs in the woodlot means he has American chestnut trees that are germinating. “You’’ll find more,” he added.
Ironically, volunteers were gathering burs at the American chestnut plantation in Zoar on the same day as the Woods Walk.
“The blight’s been here over 100 years,” Brady said. Before that, there were an estimated 100 billion American chestnut trees up and down the East Coast.
The tall trees were used for masts for ships and many houses and barns were built using the strong, sturdy wood.
A local example is the historic Pfeiffer-Wheeler Cabin at the Pfeiffer Nature Center in Portville, which is made of locally-cut American chestnut timber.
The tallest American chestnut on Brady’s property is about 55 feet tall and 9.8 inches in diameter at chest height.
“I find most of them now without looking,” Brady said. “It’s really cool to see the burs. That means they are getting pollinated from somewhere.”
Brady has taken the American chestnuts he finds under his wing. “I’m trying to do all I can reasonably do,” he said.
He marks the trees and keeps track of each one on an app on his cellphone.
He plants American chestnuts too, both from seed and transplanting. He showed the group on Saturday’s Woods Walk of a nursery in one clearing with about a dozen little trees — each one in a protective steel cage. It seems that bears and deer both like the leaves.
The American chestnut trees are widely spaced among other tree species including red oak, red maple, sugar maple, black birch and beech. There were many signs of bear, fox, bobcat, deer, and turkey on the walk.
Brady still can’t get over the large number of American chestnut trees he’s found in his woodlot. “It’s incredible,” he said. “These trees were once the most abundant species before the blight.”
Maybe Brady’s trees will help make a contribution toward restoring the American chestnut. They opened a lot of eyes this weekend and created an awareness of their blighted history.
