{"id":77600,"date":"2026-06-18T07:44:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/news\/?p=77600"},"modified":"2026-06-18T07:44:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:44:47","slug":"saving-the-trees-decades-of-work-lead-to-utc-faculty-publication-in-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/news\/2026\/06\/saving-the-trees-decades-of-work-lead-to-utc-faculty-publication-in-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving the trees: Decades of work lead to UTC faculty publication in\u00a0Science"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hill

Dr. Hill Craddock stands among American chestnut tree saplings in the Fortwood Street Greenhouse. Photo by Angela Foster.<\/p><\/div>\n

The first American chestnut tree Dr. Hill Craddock ever saw was one he grew himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was about 15 years old, working out of a small greenhouse his father built beside their home. A neighbor gave him a handful of chestnut seeds and suggested Craddock try growing them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Craddock followed the instructions he found in a gardening book, storing the seeds in the refrigerator to mimic winter conditions before planting them. Months later, something took root.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe tree in my dad\u2019s yard got very large, eventually about two feet in diameter and maybe 40 feet tall,\u201d Craddock said. \u201cIt got blight, which killed it back to the ground.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When he planted it, it was just an experiment. It didn\u2019t stay that way.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

More than four decades later, Craddock, now a UC Foundation Robert M. Davenport Professor of Biology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, is part of a team whose work was published in Science, one of the world\u2019s leading scientific journals.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The paper, <\/span>\u201cGenomic approaches to accelerate American chestnut restoration,\u201d<\/span><\/b><\/a> shows a major step in a decades-long effort to restore a species that once dominated forests across the eastern United States.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is the culmination of 30 years\u2019 work,\u201d Craddock said about the publication.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The American chestnut\u2019s disappearance is one of the most significant ecological losses in North American history. The fungal disease was first identified in New York in 1904.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a forester who noticed that the trees at the Bronx Zoo were dying,\u201d Craddock explained. \u201cHe collected some samples and sent them off and nobody knew what was killing them. Nobody had ever seen anything like that. The trees in the Bronx Zoo were a hundred years old, giant trees.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By the 1930s, the blight had spread to Chattanooga. Within a few decades, billions of trees were dead.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult for us to imagine the scale and the scope of the disaster,\u201d Craddock said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the species has not vanished completely, it fell into the category of \u201cfunctionally extinct,\u201d he said. Root systems survive underground, sending up shoots that grow before dying from the same disease.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Over time, the cycle had prevented the trees from reproducing in a way that would sustain the population.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a cycle of sprouting and blighting over the last hundred years or so,\u201d he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The research published in Science is part of an effort to change that outcome. Using genomic tools, scientists are working to identify and breed trees with stronger disease resistance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Craddock\u2019s work starts at the very beginning.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy main contribution is growing the plants,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen the genetic engineers or genomics experts need the plant, they would come to me to get it.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It involves collecting plant material, cloning trees and carefully controlling conditions so researchers can track how different varieties respond to infection. For one phase of the study, Craddock and his team monitored changes in the trees before and after exposure to the fungus, capturing their responses at the molecular level.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The results pointed to the same solution.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s complicated,\u201d he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of one gene flipping the switch, resistance comes from hundreds of genes working together. Some are always active and others kick in when the tree is under stress. The complexity slowed progress, but it\u2019s also why newer genomic tools are making such a difference.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These tools are used by the next generation of researchers, who have also found a passion for the American chestnut through their work alongside Craddock.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Two

Alex Harb (left) and Zach Anderson in the Fortwood Street Greenhouse.<\/p><\/div>\n

Zach Anderson, a graduate of both the bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s in environmental science programs at UTC, now serves as the southern regional science coordinator for the American Chestnut Foundation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anderson is responsible for coordinating research and breeding efforts across multiple states.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, I kind of oversee the science of the south,\u201d Anderson said while working at the Fortwood Street Greenhouse on UTC\u2019s campus.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That involves managing large trials designed to compare how trees perform under different environmental conditions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a common garden study because we\u2019re trying to tease out environmental factors such as sunlight, temperature and rain variation,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe tease out those variables and then we get the data to make selections.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The selections are heavily guided by genomic data, allowing researchers to identify promising trees earlier and move them into the next stage of breeding more quickly.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBased on the genomic tools … we can predict which ones have the most resistance and not even inoculate them at all,\u201d he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anderson first encountered the tree in class.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t even a tree that I was aware of,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until Dr. Craddock\u2019s dendrology class when he mentioned he was having some volunteer days.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the next few years, he went from a volunteer to a leadership role in regional research.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI fell in love with the tree and fell in love with the people,\u201d Anderson said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alex Harb is also a graduate of both UTC programs. He started as a volunteer and now spends much of his time working in the greenhouse as a plant waterer.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, that\u2019s the official job,\u201d Harb said with a laugh. \u201cIt\u2019s more of do whatever Dr. Craddock says.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During the summer, the work becomes constant.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is every single day, seven days a week,\u201d he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The day-to-day tasks like watering, moving plants and helping with trials are repetitive, but it\u2019s what the research and restoration depend on.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always really liked plants and trees,\u201d Harb said. \u201cThen I took some of Dr. Craddock\u2019s classes and he gave the whole spiel: \u2018Oh my gosh, American chestnuts, they\u2019re the best tree ever.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen I came up here, volunteered, and now I\u2019m here every day. And I don\u2019t regret it.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Hill

Dr. Hill Craddock, a 30-year faculty member at UTC, stands with Alex Harb outside of the greenhouse.<\/p><\/div>\n

Learn more<\/h4>\n

Visit UTC<\/a><\/p>\n

UTC Biology, Geology and Environmental Science<\/a><\/p>\n

How to apply<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first American chestnut tree Dr. Hill Craddock ever saw was one he grew himself. He was about 15 years old, working out of a small greenhouse his father built beside their home. A neighbor gave him a handful of chestnut seeds and suggested Craddock try growing them. <\/p>\n

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