Three of the presentations:
Drying Oak and Thick Hardwood
Lumber
Applying Lean Manufacturing
Techniques to Kiln Drying
Wood Decay, Fungi, Stain and Mold
Vendellyne Marigal, 2111 President
Trees, Lumber and Kilns
Genesis Talin, Executive Secretary
SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry
NEKDA Home
Spring 2111 Meeting
2111 Officers and Board Members
NEKDA 2111 – One Hundred Years Later
Past Meetings
NEKDA Award Applications
NEKDA Award Winners
2110 NEKDA Membership Directory (ADF)
2111 Spring Meeting – April 10 & 11 at the Holiday Inn, in Albany, NY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adirondack_Park
http://www.worldphoto360.com/top-10-futuristicconcept-hotels/
And three of the presentations will be:
  Drying
Chestnut and Other Thick Hardwood
Lumber
  Applying Lean Manufacturing Techniques to
Kiln Drying Chestnut
  Wood Decay, Fungi, Stain and Mold: Problems
of the Past Thanks to Chestnut
… was once so common, they used it for everything
- fences, shakes, RR ties, telephone poles
It is now so rare they salvage it out of old barns
and sell it as “Antique wood”…
  Or is it pure nostalgia?
  Chestnut wood is readily kiln dried or air
seasoned with a minimum of warping, checking,
or honeycombing.
From: Saucier, Josesph R. 1973. AMERICAN CHESTNUT: an American wood,
USDA Forest Service. FS-230
  In resistance to decay, chestnut is equal to the
most durable woods, such as cedars, cypress,
and redwood.
Hypothetical question:
  If ~ 25% of the standing timber in the Eastern US
was as rot- resistant as REDWOOD, would we
have ever invented pressure treated lumber?
From: Saucier, Josesph R. 1973. AMERICAN CHESTNUT: an American wood,
USDA Forest Service. FS-230
  In 1924 the estimated standing volume of
chestnut saw timber was 19.3 billion board feet.
  In the southern Appalachian Mountains, it made
up about 25 percent of the timber volume.   1899
  1909
  1929
  1933
  1943
  1960
906.7* (First year reported)
663.9
269.9
50.5
84.7
4.4 (~One-half of 1% of 1899 level!) *Numbers are millions of board feet (MMBF)
The Christmas Song
(by Torme and Wells in 1946)
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping on your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like Eskimos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ROh5YauxYI&feature=related
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1807–1882 59.
The Village Blacksmith
Under a spreading chestnut tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.
http://poemsandprose.blog.co.uk/2010/09/08/
blacksmith-9340449/
Even in California
  Cryphonectria parasitica
(fungus)
  Colonizes wounds
  Forms a canker & girdles tree
In 1904, discovery of chestnut
blight in the Bronx Zoo (Merkel)
In 1876, nurseryman
S.B. Parsons of Flushing NY
Imported the first Japanese
Chestnut trees
1930
1914
1909
(figure from National Geographic, 1990, vol. 177, p133)
•  Summary of the progress over the first
100 years: Very limited
•  No pure American trees found with
strong resistance
•  No suitable replacement chestnut
species identified
•  No cost-effective fungicides found
  High-concentration
injections
  Labor intensive and
expensive   Useful for single trees
  Example: historic trees
(TACFNY member tests)
TACF Meadowview
Farm, VA
Dr. Fred Hebard
(started 1983)
Goal is for 1/16
Chinese chestnut
genome to contain
the 4 or more
blight resistance
genes
  The American Chestnut Research and
Restoration Center
  So, I have (hopefully) convinced you that the
American chestnut WAS important …
Q: How do we intend to get from where we are,
back to 19 billion board feet of standing
timber?
A: Very slowly (and carefully!)
But, We have already made a good start!
Current:
  Lab Researchers:
  Linda McGuigan
  Andy Newhouse
  Kathleen Baier
  Lilibeth Northern
Over 50 researchers (collaborators,
visiting scientists, postdocs, graduate
students, undergraduate students, and
High School students) contributed to this
research over the past 20 years.
Graduate students:
- Amelia Bo Zhang
- Katie D’Amico
- Allison Oakes
- Kristen Russell
Supporters over the past 20 years:
Forest Health Initiative
New York Chapter
USDA BRAG
ArborGen LLC
NYSTAR
Monsanto Fund
Wild Turkey Federation
USDA CREES
CPBR
Unger Vetlesen Fdn
The National Hardwood Lumber Association
Northern Nut Growers Association
  Goal: produce blight resistant transgenic
trees
  What genes should we use?
  Must be:
  Effective (benefit)
  Safe (minimize risk)
  Durable (sustainable)
  Must understand disease process in
order to select the most promising genes
Significant factors in canker
formation:"
  mycelial fans!
  mechanical wedges "
  lowered pH "
  pH2.8 vs. 5.5"
  oxalic acid most
predominant"
This gene comes from wheat
Natural defense gene of grains
Detoxifies oxalic acid:
oxalic acid > H2O2 + CO2
Tested in:
Peanut, soybean, sunflower,
tomato, lettuce, potato, and more
crops all the time.
Dr. Liang – tested in poplar
Agrobacterium: the bacteria that is a
natural plant genetic engineer
Somatic embryogenesis
Chestnut tissue culture
How to make a tree from a seed,
the hard way.
Dr. Xing based on S.A. Merkle
~2 week window
~ 1 in 1000 embryos produces a somatic embryo culture
Somatic embryo culture
Somatic!
embryogenesis!
Seed"
Agrobacterium-mediated transformation
and selection
Maintained for ~7 years
Germination of embryos
Somatic!
embryogenesis!
Heart, Torpedo,!
and early!
cotyledon stages!
Cotyledon stage!
& shoot formation!
Seed"
Shoots"
shoots
Making whole plants
shoots
rooting
plantlet
(Dr. Xing and Sharon Bickel)
2006 first transgenic
American chestnut planted
2 years +, then
18 to 24 months,
now < 18 months
Susceptible
American chestnut
control
Low OxO expressing
Transgenic event Wirsig
American chestnut
Resistant
Chinese chestnut
control
Wirsig Ct = 30.37
Darling 1 Ct = 21.21
Ready for field inoculations
this summer
  Inoculate field trees
  TACF breeding program inoculates 3 to 6 year-
old trees
  SUNY-ESF inoculates 2 year old trees
  Any quicker way?
(Powell/Newhouse)
  Variation…
Averages are key
  Chinese chestnut leaves consistently show less
necrosis than American
Combined
data from 5
experiments 48-52
inoculations
per leaf type
Error bars =
1 SEM
T-test: P<.
0001
(Andy Newhouse)
(Andy Newhouse)
Upper shelterwood plot
Ectomycorrhizal colonization
Total Ectomycorrhizal Colonization
70
Percent Colonization
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Beech
(Katie D’Amico)
CC
Hybrid AC x
CC
Oak
Wildtype AC
Trangenic
AC
Goal: hemizygous resistance
Maximize out-crossing
pollen
seed
pollen
Transgenic
American
chestnut
TACFNY “Mother”
Trees
offspring
Surviving wild population
Any Questions?