Upper Valley Land Trust to Plant American Chestnut Trees in Charlestown, NH

The Upper Valley Land Trust (UVLT) plans on planting four American Chestnut trees at their Up on the Hill Conservation Area in Charlestown, NH on August 14th.

The American Chestnut seedlings were given to UVLT by Doug McLane, a member of the American Chestnut Foundation in New Hampshire. McLane grows chestnut seedlings at his home in Plymouth from seeds collected at outings throughout New England, and generously offered the seedlings to UVLT after finding out about their ‘Chestnut Challenge’ at Smith Pond Shaker Forest in Enfield, NH, last fall.

“The site has all the necessary components to be good habitat for American Chestnut’s” said UVLT’s Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Stewardship John Roe. “American Chestnuts need full sun, so chestnut orchards have traditionally been created in old pastures. Our approach is to plant them in a recently harvested area with the hope that the mycorrhizal fungi found in healthy hardwood forest soil will help the chestnuts grow strongly. The fungi are symbiotic with the tree roots to help increase the tree’s ability to get water and nutrients.”

UVLT plans to plant all four trees in this area at Up on the Hill and surround the seedlings with wire mesh to protect them from deer browse. Data will be collected regularly to track survival and any deer browsing.

UVLT invites the public to join us for the tree planting. We will meet at the parking lot at Up on the Hill off Richardson Road at 2pm. From there it is an easy, half mile walk to the planting location.