By James Pero For Dailymail.com
Published: 00:05 BST, 26 June 2019 | Updated: 13:33 BST, 26 June 2019
254 shares
11
View
comments
A tree long-thought to be wiped from the face of the Earth is being quietly cultivated back into existence by one Missouri naturalist.
A report by National Geographic details the efforts by Steve Bost who is leading efforts to painstakingly pollinate the Ozark chinquapin tree - a once prolific type of chestnut tree - by hand.
Though the trees were thought to have been completely decimated by a chestnut blight that swept across swaths of the US in the mid 1900s, Bost set out on a mission to hunt down any remaining vestiges in the early 2000s, sweeping Missouri's Ozark mountains for clues.
The Ozark Chinquapin was thought to be extinct, until one naturalist hunted down a grove of 45 wild adult trees serving in the Ozark mountains
The chestnuts from the tree are lauded by humans and animals alike and have all but faded from the memory of most people in the Ozark region
Bost's efforts, despite the prognostications of many naturalists, turned out to be fruitful.
In the early 2000s with the aid of Ozark locals, Bost found a trove of about 45 adult trees growing in the wild - a discovery that set off a concerted effort by the naturalist as well as state and private agencies to help save the species.
As reported by National Geographic, Bost has successfully nurtured the initial 45
