This fall, we were delighted to confirm that we found two healthy young American Chestnut trees in Glen Providence Park!  At the beginning of the 20th century, the American Chestnut, Castanea dentata, was a majestic tree dominating our eastern forests. Known as the Sequoia of the east, it was one of our tallest trees.  It was the preeminent tree from Maine to Mississippi, and constituted well over 25% of trees in Pennsylvania!

Its nuts and wood were highly valued by European colonists, and doubtless by the Okehocking who lived here before them.  According to the American Chestnut Foundation (ACF), it was the single most important food source for a wide variety of wildlife from bears to birds.

Then the Chestnut blight, Cryphonectria parasitica, was discovered in 1904 on imported Asian Chestnut trees in New York City, and it spread across the east- killing an estimated 4 billion trees by 1950.  Healthy trees were cut down in a failed attempt to stop the spread of the blight.  Saplings still grow from the root sprouts, but they usually die off again when the saplings are large enough to become infected themselves.  But there are some larger survivors…

The yellow mushrooms that led us to the American Chestnuts

Finding Glen Providence Park’s Chestnuts- by accident!

While volunteering at Tyler Arboretum’s American Chestnut Nursery, which is led by John Wenderoth, I learned to differentiate American, Chinese and Japanese Chestnut leaves.  With John, we sent leaf samples to the ACF for identification and confirmed blighted American Chestnut saplings in Long Point Wildlife Sanctuary in Rose Valley, and a Japanese Chestnut on the Sledding Hill in Glen Providence Park!*

Then in Glen Providence Park last October, I was photographing some bright yellow mushrooms I had noticed on the eastern hill, when I looked up and marveled to see what looked like American Chestnut leaves!  There are two chestnut trees measuring about 15′ and 25′ tall.  This fall, Sara Fitzsimmons of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the ACF confirmed by microscope analysis that the leaves are American!  We also found chestnut burrs (the spiky nut casings) on the western hill, but have not yet located their tree…
 

1855 Map of Media by Thomas Hughes showing “Chestnut Wood” by the current Broomall’s Lake – from Media Historic Archives

History of Chestnuts in Scroggie Valley

It turns out it is not so surprising to find these chestnuts, as we uncovered historical documentation of American Chestnuts in Scroggie Valley, most of which would become Glen Providence Park.

T. Chalkley Palmer’s detailed 1889 description of Scroggie Valley mentions chestnuts: “The northwest wall is… nearly devoid of trees.  The southeast wall is wooded continuously with oaks and chestnuts.” And he described the singing of the Hermit Thrush “…of a morning, from the top of the chestnut tree on the hill.”

Even earlier, an 1855 map of Media labels as “Chestnut Wood” the area to the east of Broomall’s Run, near what is now Broomall’s Lake.  Some of those may have been submerged when dam was built in 1883, and according to a 1905 article about the Media Grackle Roost near Broomall’s Lake, the rest were logged: “On the eastern side of the lake and stream the old “Camp Meeting Woods,” principally chestnut, was wrought up for commercial purposes”. 

By 1912 the blight had hit our area: according to a Chester Times report of a Chestnut Blight talk at the Delaware County Institute of Science, the blight was “generally spread” in Eastern Pennsylvania, but had not yet spread to the Western part of the state.

In 1915, the Chester Times lamented the near-decimation of the chestnuts and their beautiful woods: “Many of the hills in and near Media, which have in past years been noted for their beauty because of the forests which crowned them, will, before the end of the present summer, stand bare except for the disfiguring stumps, mute reminders of the old conditions.”

Japanese Chestnut branch with burrs in Glen Providence Park- the (very prickly!) burrs contain nuts

Amazingly, as recent as 1935 there is documentation of chestnuts in the park- the Chester Times described chestnut saplings on George Butler’s estate, which would soon be donated for Glen Providence Park: “A close observer of nature finds many young chestnut trees coming up on the estate of Edward B. Creighton and Mr. Butler.”   The article recalls, “In days gone by… those having nut trees on their estates and farms would have house parties and their guests would carry back to their homes baskets filled with nuts…”

While over time most of those saplings would have succumbed to the blight, we now know that at least two have survived!  We provided these historical records to the ACF, and we will continue to monitor these two American Chestnuts for them- and look for more!  We also hope to plant more American Chestnuts in Glen Providence Park, with the help of the ACF’s research…
 

American Chestnuts in North Carolina in 1910 – courtesy of the Forest History Society, Durham, NC

Restoration efforts:

There have been a variety of efforts to save the American Chestnut since the blight was discovered, from fungicides to irradiation.  As a result of decades of “backcrossing” Chinese and American Chestnuts by the ACF, there is now a hybrid “restoration chestnut”  with 94% American genes, but with just enough Chinese traits to provide blight resistance.  Tyler Arboretum’s American Chestnut Nursery grows trees to provide nuts to help preserve a genetic stock of pure American Chestnuts.

On a personal note, I learned that my grandfather worked on restoring the American Chestnut for decades in his retirement, which I didn’t know until after I became interested in American Chestnut restoration and started volunteering!  His work is cited in Susan Freinkel’s 2007 book “American Chestnut- The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree.”

Keep your eyes out in the park (and in your family records!), you really never know what you will find!

* I had actually been tipped off about there being a chestnut tree on the Sledding Hill when HACC Biology Professor Geremea Fioravanti of the Delaware County Institute of Science posted a photo of a chestnut burr on our facebook page!

For more information:

– Visit the American Chestnut Foundation and PA Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation websites

– Read  “The chestnut resurrection,” Nature, October 4, 2012

– Volunteer at Tyler Arboretum’s American Chestnut Nursery!

Surviving American Chestnuts & restoration efforts in Pennsylvania include:
– Natural Lands Trust’s Mariton Preserve in Easton, PA
– Jenkins Arboretum in Devon

Additional Sources:

– “Scroggie,” T. Chalkley Palmer, The Student, Germantown, PA, December 1889 & January 1890

– “The Media Grackle Roost,” Samuel Omensetter, Cassinia, Proceedings of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, No. IX, Philadelphia, PA, 1905

– “American Chestnut – The Life, Death and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree,” Susan Freinkel, University of California Press, 2007

Chester Times articles:
– No Known Cure for Chestnut Blight – August 13, 1912
– Passing of the Woods – May 1, 1915
– Relics of Chestnut Blight – Gaunt Skeletons Rear Themselves in Every Wood Tract – August 10, 1916
– Unique Arboretum on County Estate – June 14, 1935

You can click on any photo for a closer look, and scroll through the photos below.

We are lucky to have the lovely Wood Thrush, with its ethereal song, in Glen Providence Park!  It is a “species of conservation concern” due to a 56% drop in population since the 1960’s, largely because of forest fragmentation and acid rain.   The International Wood Thrush Conservation Alliance is being formed to study ways to protect the Wood Thrush along with other birds and wildlife.

The Wood Thrush is reclusive- you are more likely to hear it than see it.  It hops through leaf litter on the forest floor, probing for insects.  I first heard its song this year on May 1, as it returned from wintering in Central America.  Interestingly, Cornelius Weygandt wrote in 1910 for the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club’s journal Cassinia: “In any year it is apt to be within a day or two of May before you hear him sing, and May itself before its chant attains its fullest power.”  Cornelius wrote a whole essay about the Wood Thrush, and in fact many have written about it through the years…
 

Waxing poetic

 
Its flute-like song has been enchanting visitors to the park since at least the 1800’s, when Glen Providence Park was called Scroggie Valley, and the Wood Thrush’s common name was wood-robin.  T. Chalkley Palmer wrote in 1889: “It was hereabouts [along the current Mountain Laurel Trail] that I first heard the wood-robin strike a note from his harp.  It is the perfection of music when heard in its place and season… the note of the wood-robin is the spontaneous voice of Nature, devoid of artifice, clear as a bell.” 

And then there is Henry David Thoreau: “The thrush alone declares the immortal wealth and vigor that is in the forest… Whenever a man hears it he is young, and Nature is in her spring; whenever he hears it, it is a new world and a free country, and the gates of heaven are not shut against him.”  Thoreau also said, “He touches a depth in me which no other bird’s song does,” and he called the wood thrush “a Shakespeare among birds.”

What did famed ornithologist John James Audubon miss while traveling in Europe in the 1800’s?  He was homesick for “the sweet melodious strains of that lovely recluse, my greatest favorite, the Wood Thrush.”  There are many more quotes out there- I won’t list them all!
 

Its song

 
How does the Wood Thrush make this song that inspires so many? The Smithsonian explains, “The legendary “ee-o-lay” song of the Wood Thrush is actually a one-bird duet. Because the Wood Thrush has the equivalent of two sets of “vocal cords,” it is able to sing two overlapping songs at once. In other words, the Wood Thrush sings with two voices simultaneously.”

You can listen to a sample of its song here, but it is best appreciated in the woods, with all its variation, repetition, and ethereal beauty. Listen for it the next time you visit Glen Providence Park!

Sources:

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s website
Audubon website
“The Wood Thrush” by Cornelius Weygandt in Delaware Valley Ornithological Club’s journal Cassinia
National Geographic website 
Smithsonian National Zoological Park website

I have always noticed the Skunk Cabbage in Glen Providence Park, but only this year did I learn how remarkable these plants are.

Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is native to eastern North America. It grows in soft wetland soils- you can find it growing in the wetlands along Broomall’s Run throughout the park. It flowers in late winter and early spring, when only the flowers and their protective covering are visible above the mud. The stems remain buried below the surface of the soil with the large, cabbage-like leaves emerging later.

We found it emerging in the park on a bitterly cold day this January. How does it bloom in such cold conditions? Amazingly, Skunk Cabbage can generate temperatures of up to 15-35°C above air temperature: it literally melts its way through frozen ground, ice and snow. The heat it produces may help to spread its odor in the air, attracting early-emerging pollinating insects.

Skunk Cabbage gets its name from the pungent odor produced by breaking or tearing a leaf.  This odor attracts its pollinators: scavenging flies, stoneflies, and bees.  Its intriguing flowers are tiny, covering a yellow-green spadix, and are protected by an eggplant-like shell called a spathe.  

In the 19th century the U.S. Pharmacopoeia listed Eastern Skunk Cabbage as the drug “dracontium“. It was used in the treatment of respiratory diseases, nervous disorders, rheumatism, and dropsy. It is not considered edible raw, because the roots are toxic and the leaves can burn the mouth.  The Lenni-Lenape, or Delaware Indians, are among the Native Americans who used Skunk Cabbage medicinally.  The Okehocking were the local tribe of the Lenni-Lenape who lived along Ridley and Crum Creeks, and they could have used Skunk Cabbage along Broomall’s Run.  

The documented uses of Skunk Cabbage by the Delaware Indians are:

– Poultice of crushed leaves applied for pain
– Small portions of leaves chewed for epilepsy
– Infusion of roots used for whooping cough
– Infusion of leaves taken as a cold medicine

Not bad for one plant!  You can follow the plant’s stages in our photo gallery below.  The first image was taken in January, but the rest were taken yesterday- so you can see multiple stages of this intriguing plant during one visit to Glen Providence Park.

Perhaps I should let Henry David Thoreau have the last word:  “If you are afflicted with melancholy at this season, go to the swamp and see the brave spears of skunk-cabbage buds already advanced toward a new year…There is no can’t nor cant to them. They see over the brow of winter’s hill. They see another summer ahead.”

For more fun facts about Skunk Cabbage, read this entertaining article on TheNaturalCapital.com.

Information from wikipedia unless otherwise linked.