The Podcast for Project Managers by Project Managers. In the 1900’s, a fungal pathogen which causes chestnut tree blight destroyed 90% of nearly 4 billion American chestnut trees. In this episode Dr. Bill Powell shares his vision and research processes which bring hope to this majestic tree. Table of Contents 01:10 … Meet Dr. Powell 02:57 … What Happened to the American Chestnut Tree 05:27 … The American Chestnut Foundation and Backcross Breeding Program 08:47 … Hypovirulence and Finding a Solution 10:03 … The Solution Process 11:20 … Blight Tolerant Samples 11:56 … The Regulatory Process 13:10 … Dr. Powell’s Career Vision 15:09 … Overcoming Challenges 16:33 … A Prepared Ecosystem 18:21 … American Chestnut Tree Project risks 19:36 … Responding to Critics 21:59 … Identifying Genetic Loci and using Oxalate Oxidase 23:40 … American Chestnut Tree Restoration Project Team 24:50 … Keeping Communications in Sync 25:38 … Project Funding 27:12 … Lessons Learned 28:14 … How to get Involved in the American Chestnut Tree Project 29:00 … Preparing the Next Generation 30:17 … About the Chestnut 32:18 … Learn More about the American Chestnut Foundation 33:24 … Closing BILL POWELL: Our grandparents knew the chestnut tree.  We did not.  But our grandchildren will know it again. NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every couple of weeks we meet to talk about how people like you are managing projects both big and small.  Our guests include speakers, authors, and trainers, but also those who are right there in the trenches, getting the stuff of project management done on a daily basis. I’m your host, Nick Walker.  And before we get to today’s guest, we are thrilled to acknowledge the return of one of the founding fathers of this podcast, Andy Crowe, back from, well, I guess the project of a lifetime.  Welcome back. ANDY CROWE:  Thank you so much, yeah, we’ve taken a short break. The boat, which is named Gratitude, is in Grenada right now. So we’ve sailed it from Florida, all the way down through the Caribbean, down to Grenada, which is really close to South America, and are waiting out hurricane season there. NICK WALKER:  Well, we’re going to talk with you more in detail about your adventure in the next podcast but... ANDY CROWE:  Great. Meet Dr. Powell NICK WALKER:  So let’s meet our guest, Professor William A. Powell is the director of the American Chestnut Research and Restoration Program.  Dr. Powell received his Ph.D. in 1986 at Utah State University, studying ways to bring back the American chestnut tree, a tree that became functionally extinct after being devastated by a fungus from Asia.  Approximately 90 percent of the nearly four billion trees were killed by blight. In 1989 he became a faculty member at the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse, New York.  There he began collaborating with his colleague, Dr. Charles Maynard, and the American Chestnut Foundation, researching methods to develop a tree resistant to the blight.  He’s worked for the last three decades to reintroduce the American chestnut to the wild, and their efforts are succeeding.  Dr. Powell, so great to have you with us, welcome to Manage This. DR. BILL POWELL:  Thank you. NICK WALKER:  So let’s start off the conversation by learning more about your career path and how you became passionate about the American chestnut tree. DR. BILL POWELL:  So like most people, when I was younger, I actually hadn’t heard about the American chestnut, you know, it’s been gone for a while.  But when I went to graduate school I was very fortunate to get into Dr Neal Van Alfen’s lab, and there we worked on the fungus that causes chestnut blight.  And that’s where I kind of learned the chestnut story, and it’s a fascinating story because the American chestnut was once one of the most common trees in the east...