Twenty American Chestnuts Went Back into the Ground at the Bronx Zoo
The Bronx Zoo planted 20 blight-resistant American chestnuts on 5 October 2026, the first there in more than a century. A grove is not a forest.
They are blight-resistant. They are not a forest.
On 5 October 2026 the Wildlife Conservation Society planted 20 American chestnut trees at the Bronx Zoo, in three places. It is the first time the tree has stood there in more than a century. A fungus that arrived in the early 1900s wiped out about 4 billion American chestnuts. The species is functionally extinct in the wild. These 20 are resistant stock.
Robert Scheuerman, head of horticulture at the zoo, and Jason Smith of the New York Restoration Project were at the planting. WCS had trailed the return in a 30 September note. The 5 October release is the day the trees went in.
A grove in a zoo is a proof of propagation and a public memory. It is not the eastern forest. Anyone clipping "the chestnut is back" is overselling a Tuesday morning with shovels.
Key Facts
- Planted: 5 October 2026, Bronx Zoo, 20 trees, three locations
- Fungus killed about 4 billion trees in the early 1900s
- Species functionally extinct in the wild
- Sources: Wildlife Conservation Society newsroom
Why This Matters
Restoration is usually a render. This is 20 stems in known ground, at the institution that has had to explain the absence. Small on purpose.
What We Don't Know Yet
Survival through a New York winter is not in the press release. Resistance is not immunity, and a zoo planting is not a reintroduction plan for the Appalachians. We do not have an independent survival count.