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Comment by 7thaccount | Hacker News Reader

I saw a video on this recently. It's super sad that such a magnificent tree (along with the American Elm) have been completely destroyed. So much majesty gone.

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I became really interested in this topic after having my first roast chestnuts a couple years ago! Some of the interesting things I learned: - Chestnut deforestation due to blight was a substantial portion of global deforestation in the early 20th century (IIRC half in 1920s and 1930s). - Chestnuts were such a staple that they were considered poor people food in America. Some lamented that chestnut products (including chestnut flours) seemed to be all the general stores carried. - The majority of all wood construction in early America was chestnut.

Wild that such a central part of American society vanished and I didn't even know beyond "chestnuts roasting on an open fire". Makes me wonder what other parts of our lives and culture will be lost with extinctions caused by climate change.

wild, but also reassuring that within a generation or two a change like this (and there will be many more coming with climate change) can be adapted to and forgotten.

Green ash is currently under attack and will be gone within the decade.

Not familiar with that one, but sad to hear about.

It wasn't until I started growing apple trees that I realized how crazy hard it is to grow some trees. They're susceptible to insects, fungus, drought, flood, animals...etc.

It's all ash trees that are at risk.

The pest is the emerald ash borer. Emerald refers to the color of the beetle. It's emerald ash_borer, not emerald_ash borer.

Yep, had four dead ash cut down last year and a whopping 22 dead ash cut down a few weeks ago. The grub form of the ash borer can be found in the firewood rounds.

It came up in my feed a few days ago too

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