Posted on 10/08/2026 7:31:50 PM PDT by packagingguy
A grove of rare American chestnut trees that supplies restoration seedlings in West Virginia has become the focus of a dispute over massive data center development, with an Alaska political connection through major donors to gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.
The American Chestnut Foundation’s West Virginia chapter has warned that development around the former state tree nursery in Mason County could jeopardize trees that provide most of the nuts it collects for seedling production for the once nearly extinct tree.
The chapter identified 200 American chestnuts at the site and said their loss would significantly affect its ability to supply seedlings to members and state and local agencies. It said its repeated inquiries to the governor’s office and the state commerce office about the trees’ fate had received no response.
The controversy is drawing renewed attention because the grove could be bulldozed for data center construction. Some connect the threat to Anthropic, the company behind the Claude artificial intelligence platform.
Anthropic is the company whose executives are backing JKT for governor of Alaska.
(Excerpt) Read more at thealaskastory.com ...
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If you remember there were American chestnuts everywhere until the blight wiped them almost out in the 1970s.
BTW, Kreiss-Tomkins is a Democrat and is thus supposedly environmentally conscious.
Where are the Climate Change people? Where is the Sierra Club? Arbor Day Fohndation? Has the world gone mad?
Chestnut trees are a renewable resource.
You ever hear of chestnut blight. Al ost killed all of the chestnut trees
This is just nuts.
I work at data center sites (BIG ones) on contract. I do not know how big these trees are, but the resources might be there to replant. If they aren’t all spread out, they might be avoided.
“Where are the Climate Change people? Where is the Sierra Club? Arbor Day Fohndation?”
They were always whores for sale to the highest bidder.
Their total reversal on illegal immigration years ago was a classic case.
I fear such destruction will become routine in the coming years.
Save the American chestnut, not the Democrat party and stupid, deficient Claude!
By the way, with a bit of online research, one can find where to learn Claude for free!
WOW
DUTCH ELM DISEASE WIPED OUT MILLIONS OF MASSIVE ELMS...INCLUDING THE ONES ON THE FARM I GREW UP ON.
Our street was lined with Chestnuts. The blight took them all out...
“I fear such destruction will become routine in the coming years.”
Your fears are well founded. Strip mining, wind farms, solar panel fields and now data center sites.
Here is something on attempts to restore the American Chestnut.
https://tacf.org/American-chestnut-restoration/
I remember Chestnuts as a kid.
I remember the Blackshop [uh, maybe not so much....]
Make an investment in the Future:
https://tacf.org/american-chestnut-seeds-and-seedlings/
The chestnut blight was earlier. Dutch elm was in the 1960s IIRC
I nursed an old Elm on my property for decades. [Injections of fungicide in the Spring.]
It finally had to be chopped down ~15 yr. ago.
According to a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, the percentage of corporations who have cut off their chestnuts has risen, but the cause is unclear.
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