The chestnut tree that vanished is back in the Bronx — planted where its blight was first spotted

More than 120 years ago, forester Hermann Merkel documented a strange blight on American chestnut trees in the Bronx. That disease went on to wipe out an estimated 4 billion of the trees, once a giant of eastern forests. This week the Bronx Zoo and the New York Restoration Project planted 20 young hybrid chestnuts along the Bronx River and around the zoo grounds — bred to resist the blight, and planted, fittingly, where it was first found. Keepers will watch how the saplings grow, as part of a citywide campaign aiming to raise 1,000 chestnuts taller than 10 feet, with more than 500 further plantings planned around the city next year.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: institutional program