Cultures + Generations + Hearts + Connected
To Receive Your Whispers
Tender breath-keepers
Givers of life to these lungs
May I open my ears and surrender
What can you tell me
ow can I tend you
How can I tend to the ones
Who pour life through these lungs…
"We, for every one of us you've uprooted
You can soothe it by planting another
Of the same as the kind you've uprooted
Every ending a beginning if you choose it…
You can soothe it… if you choose it…"
Whispers, Ayla Nereo
Games, Lesson Plans and
Educational Resources for Kids
Bringing Back the American Chestnut Tree
The American Chestnut Tree (Castanea Dentata) is native to the North American forest ecosystem and is on the brink of extinction. In the first half of the 20th century, 1 out of 4 trees across the 180 million acre range of eastern forests were killed by an accidentally introduced pathogen: the Chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica). The loss to date of the American Chestnut is cited as one of the worst ecological disasters in the United States. Although chestnut trees still exist in our forests today, they rarely have an opportunity to reproduce and mostly exist as understory sprouts. At one time, the American Chestnut ranked as the most important wildlife plant in the eastern United States. Bountiful populations of squirrels, wild turkey, white-tailed deer, black bear, raccoon, and grouse depended on chestnuts as a major food source. Several unique insect species that relied upon chestnut trees as their principal food source became extinct.
