 Planted outside the natural range of American chestnut, these trees escaped the initial wave of infection by chestnut blight, but in 1987, scientists found blight also in this stand.Scientists are working to try to save the trees.There is a program to bring American chestnut back to the Eastern forest funded by the American Chestnut Foundation, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, USDA Forest Service, West Virginia University, Michigan State University, and Cornell University.