E34 – Michael Goergen — Saving the American Chestnut, Genetics, Hope & the Future of America’s Forests 🌰🌳

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In E34, Scott sits down with Michael Goergen, President & CEO of the American Chestnut Foundation, for a powerful and deeply hopeful conversation about restoring one of America’s most important lost trees — the American Chestnut.

The American Chestnut once made up 25% of the Appalachian forest, feeding wildlife, sustaining communities, and anchoring entire ecosystems. Then a blight brought from overseas wiped out nearly every adult tree within a single human lifetime. Today, only root sprouts remain — alive, but unable to reach the canopy.

Michael walks us through:

🌰 The rise and fall of the American Chestnut — from canopy monarch to functional extinction
🌱 Why the roots never died — and how this miracle of endurance makes restoration possible

🧬 Cutting-edge genetics & breeding programs:
• Recombinant genomic selection
• Cross-breeding resistant trees
• Exploring CRISPR and biotech tools
• Why restoring a long-lived tree requires decades of patience

🔥 Battling multiple threats:
• Chestnut blight
• Phytophthora root rot
• Site conditions that determine survival or failure

🏔 Chestnut groves that still exist today — and where to find wild sprouts and active restoration orchards along the East Coast

🤝 Why this work is powered mostly by volunteers and private donors, not the government — and why that makes it one of America’s great conservation stories

🌲 Forests, ecosystems, water, wildlife, and people — how restoring a single keystone species strengthens entire landscapes and communities

🐻 Unexpected connections:
• Chestnuts and black bears
• Chestnuts and passenger pigeons
• Chestnuts and early Indigenous cultures

💡 Why hope — not fear — drives conservation, and why Michael believes a restored, self-sustaining American Chestnut forest is achievable within our lifetimes.

📚 Michael’s Book Recommendation:
Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West — William Cronon

👇 Bonus content & updates:
https://naturallyscott.kit.com/5fd12c6752