The American chestnut once shaped forests across eastern North America, providing timber, food and habitat for wildlife. On Oct. 5, 20 hybrid American chestnut trees were planted at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo, returning the tree to grounds where chestnut blight was first documented in 1904. The planting connects that history with a restoration effort continuing across New York City.
New York Restoration Project donated the trees in partnership with The American Chestnut Foundation. Bronx Zoo horticulture staff and NYRP restoration specialists planted two- to three-foot saplings at three locations around the zoo. The organizations say the trees were placed along the east bank of the Bronx River, which runs through the zoo, and beside a pedestrian path just north of Tiger Mountain.
WCS’s Sept. 30 announcement described a planned gift of 25 trees. In its Oct. 5 post-event release, WCS reported that 20 had been planted; ABC7 independently reported the same completed count. The sources do not explain the difference, so this story follows the post-event figure without speculating about why the plan changed.
The site is closely tied to the chestnut’s history. In 1904, Bronx Zoo chief forester Hermann Merkel documented the blight there. The disease spread across the American chestnut’s native range, from Maine to Florida and west to the Ohio Valley. WCS says the blight decimated nearly 4 billion American chestnut trees across North America, changing forests that had included one of the East’s most important trees.
The American chestnut was valued for its timber and for the nuts and habitat it provided. WCS says the species is considered functionally extinct in the wild. The hybrid saplings at the zoo are part of ongoing restoration work, not proof that the species has recovered.
The new trees are hybrids developed to combine American chestnut heritage with blight resistance. WCS describes the planting as a symbolic return to a place where the disease was first documented. WCS says the trees connect the zoo’s history with current conservation and restoration work. Their long-term progress will depend on continued care and observation.
Michael Goergen, president and CEO of The American Chestnut Foundation, described the hybrids as part of a living restoration network. WCS reports that the network is intended to help researchers learn which trees survive and grow, extending the work beyond the planting day.
WCS says its Bronx Zoo campus is maintained as a thriving forest and provides habitat for local wildlife. The organization also describes its conservation work as including a commitment to its historic home in the Bronx.
WCS describes New York Restoration Project as an environmental-justice nonprofit and citywide nature conservancy working with residents across all five boroughs. Its wider work includes restoring parks and gardens, planting and distributing trees, and supporting urban agriculture. The chestnut program adds a species-focused effort to that citywide work.
The Bronx planting joins a longer effort in northern Manhattan. WCS reports that NYRP, NYC Parks and The American Chestnut Foundation have worked together since 2017, and that NYRP has planted and now stewards more than 200 hybrid American chestnuts in Highbridge Park. WCS describes it as New York City’s largest chestnut grove.
The same citywide effort includes NYRP’s 1,000 Chestnut Challenge, launched in 2025 to involve New Yorkers and local institutions in community science. WCS says participants are invited to plant and monitor saplings over time, including TACF hybrids and trees propagated from chestnuts grown in New York City. The Bronx Zoo planting adds another site to that network.
Restoration on this scale is measured over years. Planting young trees is one step; their growth and survival must be monitored. The challenge is designed to involve residents in that continuing work, while the Bronx Zoo planting puts the species back into a landscape that carries a record of the blight’s early spread.
Twenty saplings cannot replace the forests that were lost, and the organizations describe restoration as continuing work rather than a completed recovery. The planting’s significance is more specific: hybrid chestnuts have been planted again on the zoo grounds where the blight was documented, while partners continue planting and monitoring elsewhere in the city. More than a century after Merkel’s record, their future remains to be seen.
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