UNE’s environmental studies professor Thomas Klak featured locally for efforts to preserve the American chestnut

Tom Klak
Tom Klak

Thomas Klak, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Environmental Studies, was featured in the August 3 issue of the West End News for his work to preserve the American chestnut tree as part of the Edible Hillside project at Harbor View Park in Portland. Klak serves on the Board of Directors of the Maine Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation.

According to the article, under Klak’s guidance, volunteers planted six seedlings from the sixth generation of disease resistant hybrid American chestnut trees at the American Chestnut Tree Restoration Project at the University of New England on July 13.

Harbor View’s seedlings are part of a multi-state breeding program to bolster numbers of this species, which was devastated by disease, beginning in 1908.

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The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.