The Demise and Resurrection of the American Chestnut with Jack Swatt
April 20 @ 10:00 am - 11:30 pm
Saturday, April 20, 2024
More than a century ago, nearly 4 billion American chestnut trees were growing in the eastern U.S. They were among the largest, tallest, and fastest-growing trees. The wood was rot-resistant, straight-grained, and suitable for furniture, fencing, and building. The nuts fed billions of birds and animals. It was almost a perfect tree, that is, until a blight fungus killed it more than a century ago. The chestnut blight has been called the greatest ecological disaster to strike the world’s forests in all of history. The American chestnut tree survived all adversaries for 40 million years, then disappeared within 40. Jack Swatt, President of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation provides an overview of the history, value, blight impact, and revival of this iconic tree in this 15-minute video. Learn more about how you can help restore this valuable member of our diverse planetary community. https://tacf.org/ 10:00 a.m., A. B. Ceder Room, FREE…Donations will be accepted to help defray the Conservation Center’s programming expenses. Please pre-register online: American Chestnut Registration
About Our Speaker: Jack Swatt has been a member of The American Chestnut Foundation since 1993. He received a B.S. in Biological Sciences from UConn in 1983, an M.S. in Chemistry from CCSU in 1992 and graduated from the Albany Medical College Physician Assistant Program in 1996. He is currently retired but was previously employed by The Hospital of Central Connecticut as a Physician Assistant in Hospitalist Medicine. He is also an active volunteer for the CT DEEP (monitoring wintering eagles and Whip-poor-wills), Audubon CT, CT Audubon, NH Audubon, the Loon Preservation Committee, and the Society to Protect New Hampshire Forests (aka the Forest Society). He is also a life member of the Wolcott Fire Dept. Co. #2 and the New Haven Bird Club.
Saturday, April 20, 2024
More than a century ago, nearly 4 billion American chestnut trees were growing in the eastern U.S. They were among the largest, tallest, and fastest-growing trees. The wood was rot-resistant, straight-grained, and suitable for furniture, fencing, and building. The nuts fed billions of birds and animals. It was almost a perfect tree, that is, until a blight fungus killed it more than a century ago. The chestnut blight has been called the greatest ecological disaster to strike the world’s forests in all of history. The American chestnut tree survived all adversaries for 40 million years, then disappeared within 40. Jack Swatt, President of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation provides an overview of the history, value, blight impact, and revival of this iconic tree in this 15-minute video. Learn more about how you can help restore this valuable member of our diverse planetary community. https://tacf.org/ 10:00 a.m., A. B. Ceder Room, FREE…Donations will be accepted to help defray the Conservation Center’s programming expenses. Please pre-register online: American Chestnut Registration
About Our Speaker: Jack Swatt has been a member of The American Chestnut Foundation since 1993. He received a B.S. in Biological Sciences from UConn in 1983, an M.S. in Chemistry from CCSU in 1992 and graduated from the Albany Medical College Physician Assistant Program in 1996. He is currently retired but was previously employed by The Hospital of Central Connecticut as a Physician Assistant in Hospitalist Medicine. He is also an active volunteer for the CT DEEP (monitoring wintering eagles and Whip-poor-wills), Audubon CT, CT Audubon, NH Audubon, the Loon Preservation Committee, and the Society to Protect New Hampshire Forests (aka the Forest Society). He is also a life member of the Wolcott Fire Dept. Co. #2 and the New Haven Bird Club.
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