In addition to economics, chestnuts provided wildlife with an important food source. After the accidental introduction of the blight in New York City around the turn of the last century, the fungus quickly spread throughout the eastern seaboard and into the midwest. By 1950, nearly all of the American chestnuts were gone. All that remains are small root sprouts, which quickly become infected. Efforts to breed a blight-resistant Chinese chestnut with an American chestnut failed at first.
Chinese chestnuts are smaller, shrub-like, and resistant to the blight.
By the 1980s, however, new breeding techniques and renewed interest provided breakthroughs in the breeding process. Now, it is expected that an American chestnut tree, with only one Chinese chestnut characteristic, blight-resistance, will be reintroduced en masse to the forests of Pennsylvania within the next century. TACF's interest in Moshannon State Forest was spurred by the existence of a former tree nursery at the site. TACF volunteers were also impressed with the relative abundance of healthy and mature chestnut trees in the area. The local genetics, they noted, were crucial to the success of the chestnuts in staving off the blight, as well as climate and topography.