A Tree Planted By the Water – Southfork Conservancy Brings the Chestnut Back to Atlanta

The American chestnut tree was once one of the most common trees in North America, growing from Mississippi up through the Appalachians, into New England and further still. Beginning around 1904 though, blight began to spread and the chestnut was decimated—the tree has all but disappeared from Georgia.

But the South Fork Conservancy is trying to help bring the American chestnut back to Atlanta, and they enlisted the help of schoolchildren to do it. WABE’s Myke Johns and Erin Wright looked into the larger picture behind this small project.

Planting chestnut trees with the South Fork Conservancy