This was a major passion project for me. A story I’ve been following for years, ever since I first learned about the near extinction of the American Chestnut. When I heard that the ACF was on the verge of a major breakthrough, I knew it was the right time to tell this story. I traveled up to Syracuse, New York to shoot this piece at the SUNY-ESF laboratory and field station. It was a marathon, all-day shoot on my own, that required me to go 50 feet up in a cherry picker with a camera to get some of the footage. I’m extremely proud of how this came out and that I was able to tell a story I’ve been obsessed with for so long.
The rebirth of the American chestnut
Ben Trachtenberg 