The chestnut blight fungus was introduced to United States in the early 1900’s. It is native to Japan, China, and Europe.

The blight was first observed in the New York Botanical Garden in 1904 and it expanded at a rate of about 45 kilometers (24 miles) per year.

From New York, it rapidly spread across the entire range of the American chestnut, infecting and killing almost all American chestnut trees by 1930.

American chestnuts re-grow from stumps but are then infested and killed by chestnut blight, usually before any seeds are produced.