Font Size: A A A

As part of Earth Day 2012, a group of Bluefield College biology students participated in a tree-planting project on campus to reestablish the great American chestnut tree in southwest Virginia.

Chris Shoemaker

May 14, 2012

The sustainable environmental project was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Bluefield, West Virginia, and completed by BC students in Dr. Emily Lambert's "Fundamentals of Biology" class

"The American chestnut tree was almost wiped out after a fungus in 1904 killed over 30 million acres of chestnut trees from Maine to Georgia and west of the Mississippi," according to Rotary Club president Jim Ferguson. "The loss of the chestnut tree at the time of the Great Depression had a devastating effect on the people and wildlife of the Appalachian Mountains. The economic loss from the chestnut's demise amounted to untold million of dollars."

The project with Bluefield College students, Ferguson added, was designed to educate and work jointly with members of the community to reintroduce chestnut trees to the area. Under Dr. Lambert's supervision, BC students nurtured the chestnut trees from their infancy in a greehouse on campus during the winter season, before planting them in a row bordering the southeast end of campus.

Comments: