Published on November 12, 2026
Last month, students in High School Forestry classes participated in a historical field trip. Teaming up with retired conservation officer Derek Pritts, students helped plant blight-tolerant American chesnut trees (from Darling54 seedlings) in the ground at Speedwell Forge Lake. These seedlings were the first planted in Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Hochreiter, one of the Forestry teachers, shared that 20 years ago she and previous students planted American chesnut trees, but nearly all of the trees had been destroyed by the blight. Blight is a rapidly destructive plant disease that causes sudden death of plant tissue.
Pritts received special permission from researchers at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in New York to plant the genetically engineered Darling American chesnut trees. These trees were modified to be blight-tolerant, meaning that the blight can still get into the trees, but is unable to do as much damage as could be done previously. This genetically modified change should mean that these trees will live for decades to come.
During the day, Pritts demonstrated to students how to layer fertilizer and use dirt dug from around white pine trees to plant the seedlings. He also showed students how to add plastic protectors to guard the seedlings from animals.
After several exhausting hours of hard work, students proudly admired their work, and several noted they were looking forward to bringing their kids back years from now to show them the trees that they planted.