OUR STORY
At America Castanea, we are on a mission to bring the American chestnut tree back from the brink of functional extinction.
For millennia, billions of chestnut trees reigned over 200 million acres of eastern woodlands until succumbing to a lethal disease known as the chestnut blight during the first half of the 20th century - an event called the greatest ecological disaster in the history of North American forests.
In many ways, the chestnut was America’s perfect tree. It has a broad, protective canopy, grows quickly, and supplies straight-grained rot-resistant lumber. Chestnut lumber was a vital part of the economy and was used for everything from cradles to coffins.
These trees also produced an annual abundant and nutritious food source - up to 6,000 nuts per tree per year.
Recent research also suggests that American chestnuts store significantly more carbon than other hardwood species like oak or hickory.
After over thirty years of scientific achievement by a diverse coalition of scientists, land owners, and passionate volunteers, we stand ready to return a keystone species in the eastern forest ecosystem and U.S. economy. American Castanea, a public benefit corporation, is dedicated to the large-scale, responsible restoration of the American Chestnut tree.
The chestnuts up North were majestic. The southern trees are gods….Whole forests of them flower in rolling clouds of white. Scores of mountain communities are built from the beautiful, straight-grained wood. A single tree might yield as many as fourteen thousand planks. The stocks of food that fall shin-deep feed entire counties, every year a mast year.
Richard Powers, The Overstory
A Breakthrough
In 1988, a team of scientists at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) began working closely with the New York American Chestnut Foundation, leading to the establishment of ESF’s American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project in 1990. Through this partnership, the group developed a line of disease-tolerant American chestnut trees called Darling.
Darling chestnuts contain an OxO, oxalate oxidase, which chemically inactivates the main toxin produced by chestnut blight. OxO enzymes are widespread in the plant kingdom and are found in food plants and wild organisms, including all grains, beets, spinach, and many other species.
Numerous scientists, conservation advocates, and countless volunteers have all helped in the journey of the Darling Chestnut. The New York American Chestnut Foundation, in particular, played an essential role, beginning their partnership with ESF in 1988 and supporting the establishment of ESF’s American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project in 1990.
Through extensive performance testing in many sites, Darling trees show substantial blight-tolerance relative to trees that do not contain the OxO gene [1]. In addition, researchers have shown ecological and nutritional equivalence between Darling trees and their non-transgenic counterparts. Many other ecological studies have been done as part of the careful regulatory process for the approval of these trees. [2] In November 2022, the USDA issued a recommendation to deregulate Darling 58. In an August 2024 updated filing, SUNY-ESF requested the de-regulation of Darling 54.
[1] https://www.esf.edu/chestnut/science-update/index.php
[2] For example: Newhouse AE, Allwine AE, Oakes AD, Matthews DF, McArt SH, Powell WA. Bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) survival, pollen usage, and reproduction are not affected by oxalate oxidase at realistic concentrations in American chestnut (Castanea dentata) pollen. Transgenic Res. 2021 Dec;30(6):751-764.
Our Team
We are passionate about conservation, innovative models for agriculture, rural livelihoods, and new technologies. We bring together an entrepreneurial spirit, scientific rigor, and practical know-how to provide the highest-quality blight-tolerant American chestnut trees at scale.
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Michael Bloom
Michael Bloom is a serial entrepreneur and avid outdoorsman, having successfully developed, led and sold two pioneering ed-tech companies, Great Courses and Learn25. Coming from a family of master gardeners & outdoor enthusiasts, Michael combines a passion for forest restoration with over 25 years of leadership experience. Michael has a B.S. degree from Boston University and an MBA with High Honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
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Andrew Serazin
Andrew Serazin is a scientist, non-profit leader, and entrepreneur. He is past President of the Templeton World Charity Foundation as well as a senior executive at the Gates Foundation. He has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Notre Dame and was awarded a doctorate from the University of Oxford in Medical Sciences, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. In 2019, he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
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Jeff Zarnowski
A leading nut tree expert, Jeff Zarnowski has been managing orchards and developing cultivars for over 30 years. Jeff holds 38 U.S. patents and has published extensively on tree nut business, dendrology, and orchard management, including his “Hazelnut and Chestnut Handbook,” which contains wisdom from decades of hard-earned practical experience and careful research. Jeff graduated from SUNY Binghamton with an electrical engineering degree, and studied law at Western State Law school.
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Andrew Albert
Andrew Albert is a bioinformatics scientist dedicated to harnessing the power of data to drive innovation in computational biology. With a Master of Science in Bioinformatics from Johns Hopkins University, Andrew specializes in developing advanced analytical solutions for challenges in biotechnology, with applications in tree and forest restoration, sustainable agriculture, and ecosystem health. His expertise includes genomic data analysis, machine learning, and the application of cutting-edge bioinformatics tools.
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Nathan McNulty
Nate McNulty is a computational biologist and biotechnology entrepreneur. He leverages genomic tools to understand the biology of the American chestnut and other hardwoods. He earned his B.S. from MIT and his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. Nate was VP of Research at Matatu, a biotech that sought to enhance the health and growth of livestock through data-driven improvement of the microbiome. He is passionate about exploring the complex interactions between living organisms and their environments.
News
GMOs Could Reboot Chestnut Trees - MIT Technology Review
The Chestnut Tree Bringing Back an American Icon - Templeton World Charity Foundation
Can Genetic Engineering Bring Back the American Chestnut? - New York Times Magazine
Gene Editing Could Revive a Nearly Lost Tree. Not Everyone is on Board - Washington Post
Our Approach
American Castanea PBC has the only commercial license for the production, sale, and distribution for the Darling line of American chestnut trees.
The company has developed several orchards, operating under USDA permit, for the planting of Darling chestnut trees.
We have developed a unique technology platform that integrates genomic and phenotypic information for trait prediction and genetic improvement among chestnut trees, as well as other threatened hardwoods.
