Thomas Klak, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Environmental Studies, is on a mission to foster the comeback of the American chestnut tree.

The American chestnut was all but destroyed during the last century by an accidentally imported fungal blight that is still killing the few remaining trees today. The blight has wiped out an estimated four billion chestnuts.

UNE is the only place in New England where students are working with fungal blight-tolerant American chestnut seedlings.

Klak and his students are now speed breeding the seedlings, helping them produce pollen in a fraction of the time it would take if they grew naturally.

This summer, they will pollinate some wild Maine chestnuts, in a limited area, under very strict regulations.

In the meantime, Klak has now begun exploring partnerships with land organizations in hopes of planting Maine’s first blight-tolerant chestnuts on their land when federal deregulation happens. That could happen as soon as 2021.

“We’re trying to build those relationships so that we can get land organizations more deeply involved in the restoration process,” he explained. “We want to get people more involved and bring in more volunteers and collaborators.”

Klak and his students Tyler Riendeau (Environmental Science, ’21) and Andrew Grammas (Environmental Science, ’20) recently hosted Sarah Stanley, director of the Kennebunk Land Trust, at the UNE greenhouse.

“I was very impressed by the work of Tom and his team,” she stated. “I will be discussing with my stewardship team the possibility of a KLT preserve as a site for them.”

Grammas also made a presentation to members of the Sebasticook Regional Land Trust in Central Maine.

According to Klak, if the seedlings help restore the American chestnut, it will be the greatest comeback of any tree species in North American history.

If you are part of a Maine land organization interested in partnering with UNE on American chestnut restoration, please email Thomas Klak at tklak@une.edu.