Seedling Establishment of American chestnut, Castanea dentata, in Pennsylvania

American chestnut [Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh.] dominated forests throughout eastern North America prior to the introduction of chestnut blight [Cryhponectria parasitica (Murrill) Barr], which effectively removed the species from its native range.   Long valued as both food and medicine by Native Americans, the tree provided American settlers with materials to expand a growing nation and develop a unique Appalachian culture.  Restoration of American chestnut is anticipated through progress on numerous fronts combating chestnut blight. Artificial regeneration using disease-resistant stock, however, is still challenged with obstacles facing seedling establishment on species where plantings have been extremely limited.  We used pure American chestnut seedlings to evaluate the effects of site characteristics, genetics and seedling quality on seedling performance over 14 years.  Fourteen-year survival ranged from 2% at the poorest site to 71% at the richest site, with larger seedlings generally outperforming smaller stock in terms of survival and overall height.