American Chestnuts

This iconic American species, once in overwhelming presence, is now all but totally gone. Understanding the story gives caution to those who might otherwise be quick to bring potentially invasive species into an untested environment. Other notable examples include destruction of southern forests by vines of Kudzu, the American Indian population was decimated by smallpox prior to military battles, and the introduction of the Zebra mussel to the Great Lakes has blocked water intakes and fouled ships' hulls causing the expenditure of more fuel.

Clicking on this hyperlink www.chicagotribune.com/chestnuts will give you a view of how Chestnuts are grown and harvested in Illinois.

The article "Return of an Old Chestnut" is from Bloomberg BusinessWeek page 10 of July 14 - 20, 2014.

Clicking on the file at the bottom of the page will give you a greater understanding of how Chestnuts are linked with our culture.

Chestnuts by Karl Randall is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.