Chestnut Trees in DuPont State Forest

The progress of national and local efforts to develop blight-resistant chestnut trees will be outlined Friday, June 23, at 1:30 p.m. at the Cedar Mountain Community Center. The event is open to the public and sponsored the Friends of DuPont Forest.

Don Surrette, a native of Transylvania County and board member of the Carolina chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation, will describe the 35-year-old campaign to save the iconic hardwood and its current momentum in this area.

In particular, he will report on the experimental plantings of several hundred of the fungus-resistant hybrids begun in 2010 in DuPont State Recreational Forest.

These experimental plantings are being maintained and monitored by volunteers who trim competing vegetation and check each tree for growth and signs of infection by the blight fungus.

Cedar Mountain Community Center is located at 10635 Greenville Hwy in Cedar Mountain, just west of the Cedar Mountain Fire Department near the intersection of US Hwy276 with Cascade Lake Road.