The Bronx Zoo is putting down new roots.
On Monday, the zoo welcomed a tree species considered “functionally extinct” to its grounds—more than 100 years after one of its own scientists documented the deadly fungus that was wiping out the trees.
Twenty American chestnut saplings were planted at three locations across the sprawling conservation center, including near the base of Tiger Mountain, as part of a citywide campaign to restore the once-abundant species.
“It’s historic for us. We haven’t had chestnuts on property here for a hundred years,” Craig Piper, interim director of the Bronx Zoo, told The Post as staff carefully placed the young trees in the ground.
“The thought of bringing them back and bringing them to once again be part of the hardwood forests of New York City, that’s exciting for us,” he said.
Created in partnership with the New York Restoration Project (NYRP), the zoo’s small chestnut forest marks the species’ return to the property for the first time since the zoo’s former chief forester discovered a “deadly fungus” attacking the towering, 100-foot trees.
Hermann Merkel first recorded the blight in 1904. “Unless some radical measures are taken, or a natural enemy of this fungus develops, it is safe to predict that not a live specimen of the American Chestnut will be found two years hence in the neighborhood of the Zoological Park,” the former name of the Bronx Zoo, he wrote.
The disease ultimately destroyed nearly 4 billion American chestnut trees throughout North America, leaving the species “functionally extinct.”
The 20 saplings planted Monday are not identical to the trees that once formed a vast canopy across the United States. Instead, they are hybrid varieties bred by horticulturalists in hopes of improving their resistance to the blight, which researchers expect will eventually reach them.
“These trees most likely will get the disease, and it will impact them. But we also expect them to grow,” said Jason Smith, NYRP’s director of Northern Manhattan Parks. He said the “worst-case scenario” would be for the trees to fail to flower and reproduce.
“These trees are now a huge milestone … [The American Chestnut] was our most abundant, largest tree, very important part of our forest ecosystem. It was a huge ecological catastrophe for the nation. And so the opportunity to bring it back is wonderful.”
The planting will also support ongoing research. Bronx Zoo horticulture staff will closely monitor the saplings and document how they respond as they mature.
Seventeen trees were planted in two plots along the Bronx River, where they can receive ample sunlight with minimal foot traffic. The remaining three occupy a shadier path north of Tiger Mountain, effectively becoming part of the zoo’s public display. Visitors will be able to watch them grow, while zoologists share their history with families touring the park.
“We’re inviting New Yorkers to engage in hands-on, important work to address the biodiversity crisis by bringing back a tree that was on the brink of extinction,” Smith said.
About 400 American chestnut trees remain across New York City’s five boroughs, and the NYRP planted nearly all of them with assistance from the American Chestnut Foundation.
