Chestnuts were once a prominent and common tree in America’s forests, but in the early part of the 20th century a blight originating in East Asia wiped out what were over 4 billion trees. Only 100 or so isolated American Chestnut trees still exist, and their blight resistance is doubted. Restoration efforts, involving crossbreeding American Chestnut trees, mainly with Chinese chestnuts, are underway with numerous universities, state agencies and the National Chestnut Foundation. Because of the considerable effort being devoted to the chestnut species on numerous fronts, AFFN is focusing on other species where there is less preservation and restoration activity, such as American persimmons, pawpaws, thin shelled hickory cultivars, and so forth.