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Md. Officials Trying To Revive Chestnut Trees

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May 12, 2008 7:20 am US/Eastern

Md. Officials Trying To Revive Chestnut Trees

FLINTSTONE (AP) ― The Maryland Park Service is planting chestnut trees Monday in an effort to restore the once-mighty tree after it was nearly wiped out by disease.

The Park Service and the American Chestnut Foundation are headed to Rocky Gap State Park Nature Center in Allegany County to plant the first in Maryland of a new breed of chestnut developed to resist disease.

Chestnuts were once common along the Appalachian Mountains and grew so big they were called the "Redwood of the East."

But an Asian fungus started infecting American chestnuts more than 100 years ago, nearly wiping out the estimated 4 billion that were living at the time.

Scientists have produced a new hybrid chestnut tree that resists disease, and thousands have been planted across Appalachia.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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