Editor’s Notes: Direct tree assistance
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Don't worry, this isn't about data centers, really. But I was reading about a data center project in Mason County when I stumbled across news that the chestnut and chinquapin trees at the former Clements State Tree Nursery will have to be moved to make room for Nscale's Monarch Commute Campus. In fact, that story coincided with news from a couple of public figures who were trying to remain in the public eye by "highlighting" the act that would expand the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District into West Virginia's eastern panhandle.
Shenandoah National Park is where I first learned about the American chestnut tree and what it has endured, and the two stories sent my brain back to a visitors' center exhibit about the chestnut decades ago.
A bark fungus accidentally imported on nursery stock -- probably at the turn of the 19th Century -- ravaged hundreds of millions of acres. As many as 4 billion American chestnut trees were killed by the blight, mostly in Appalachian hardwood forests. It hit Shenandoah National Park in the 1930s, just as families were being removed from their homes to establish the park.
I remember as a kid being on a hike and having my dad point out tiny little saplings along a trail and saying "That's about as big as that one's going to get. See all the spots?"
Most of the chestnuts in the park don't make it past the understory.
But in the chestnut orchard in Mason County, there are about 200 trees. Many are blighted, yes. But the older, larger ones seem to be resisting the fungus and continue to grow. According to mybuckhannon.com, which was quoting a newsletter from the West Virginia chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation, hundreds of chestnuts are still being harvested there.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey says "Nscale will cover the full cost of the preservation and relocation efforts, with no expense to West Virginia taxpayers." The move is set to take place when the trees are dormant in late 2027, with supervision by professional arborists.
But the Global Justice Ecology Project says mature trees (you know, the ones actually resisting the blight) cannot be relocated and should stay where they are.
I would hope researchers, the state Division of Forestry and other experts independent of Nscale's professional arborists are consulted, and that if those folks all agree the mature chestnuts cannot be moved, Nscale is willing to pivot.
It doesn't matter what the development is, those who want to build on West Virginia land have got to be considerate of our communities and the things that make us wild and wonderful. The loss of that many chestnut trees would be a genuine tragedy.
Meanwhile, researchers experimenting with ways to save the American chestnut have discovered there is value in incorporating other strains, such as Chinese chestnuts that produce a compound that inhibits the blight fungus. In fact, many of the blight-resistant trees we call American chestnuts are hybrids or are supported by grafts from other kinds of chestnut. Perhaps the American chestnut will be saved because succeeding generations' genetic profile includes DNA from other strains. Make of that metaphor what you will.
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I waffled on whether to acknowledge some social media nonsense from last week. But in the end, I feel as though it is important to make one point -- particularly when respected public figures with whom this newspaper has always had a good working relationship pile on with accusations. This newspaper did not alter a photo that was provided to us by a political candidate. We value our readers' trust more than that.
We didn't. We wouldn't. Something like that is simply never going to happen.
Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com.