Campus Connection

[caption id="attachment_26607" align="alignnone" width="770"] Saving the trees is a collaborative effort. Professor Dennis Fulbright from Michigan State University, left, and UW-L junior Brynn Sundberg inspect a chestnut tree. Injecting trees with hypoviruses they hope to infect the blight fungus and reduce the fungus’ ability to invade and kill trees.[/caption]

Scientists from UW-La Crosse, Michigan State University, the University of West Virginia and the Wisconsin DNR are straddling steep Western Wisconsin hillsides near West Salem to capture tree trunk samples. They hope to save a unique grove of chestnut trees — and eventually help fight a blight fungus affecting American chestnut trees in the Eastern U.S.

Now that research is getting recognized statewide in the UW System initiative, Knowledge Powers Wisconsin. You’ll find the story highlighted at http://www.uwpowerswi.com/.  The direct link to the article: http://www.uwpowerswi.com/save-the-trees-uw-la-crosse-researchers-students-work-toward-american-chestnut-disease-cure/. The Knowledge Powers Wisconsin site has been developed by UW System, with help from all campuses, to show how Wisconsin’s public universities, colleges and extension networks are working to improve the state’s competitive edge by leveraging the state’s human capital, supporting business and industry, and strengthening local communities.