return of a king

This weeks article from the Applied journal of ecology is about the American Chestnut tree and its' struggles over the past century.  nobody here probably knows about the chestnut tree since is has been gone since about the 1920's.  I blight from Asia was imported on some other trees that infected the some chestnut trees in the bronx zoo in the early 1900's and shot through its range in a short amount of time.  The American chestnut made up 60 percent of the forest trees in its native Appalachian mountain  range. 
  
 The trees were killed off, but they can resprout stump sprouts from stumps of dead trees because the blight does not attack roots so the root systems live.  This means that small trees can survive until they reach about 20 feet tall and then the blight attacks and kills them. 

  Efforts have been made by the American chestnut foundation and others to bring the chestnut back since it was such an important part of the eastern forest.  They have been cross breeding with Asiatic strains that are resistant to the blight and reintroducing them into the wild after they breed back in 99% of the American genes.  No large trees have been able to survive yet, but researchers are getting closer.  They have found a fungus that kills the blight and does not attack any other trees so it can be introduced into the chestnut range. The only problem is that it does not move fast so people would basically have to individually inoculate each chestnut tree with it which would devastate funds.   This is a never ending battle and it is going to be a long road, but with help and pray, there is a possibility that Americans will see the giant chestnut trees of the past one day.