James Kirk
Innovative Resilience
How can a place foretell the future of its inhabitants—an ecosystem stand as a metaphor for the history of the people who call it home?
For years, the American chestnut formed the spine of the Appalachian wilderness, growing along the valleys and ridges that line the region from New England to the South. Critical both to natural ecosystems and the way of life for the people of Appalachia, the chestnut represented the strength and resilience so central to an Appalachian way of life. Yet despite its natural tenacity, the chestnut blight of the twentieth century has all but driven the trees from Appalachia. As Robert Frost pondered in his 1936 poem “Evil Tendencies Cancel” on the future of these pillars of the Appalachian wilderness, “Will the blight end the chestnut?”
The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have also brought similar existential questions to Appalachian communities themselves. Population decline, economic upheaval, and environmental injustice represent just a few examples of the pressures exerted on the towns and cities of Appalachia. Like the trees that once covered these mountains, Appalachian communities have persisted through history through their tenacity against the changing forces of society. However, these communities have also faced new challenges—resulting in shuttered factories, consolidated schools, and declining populations—that spark questions about how the region’s future can demonstrate the persistence that is so defining to the Appalachian experience.
Among the animals impacted by the decline of the American chestnut is the Allegheny woodrat. A small mammal often confused with others; it is in fact a distinctive species unique to the region. Threatened in Maryland and driven entirely from other parts of their traditional expanse, the Allegheny woodrats have historically thrived on the ridges and mines of Appalachia. These creatures are closely grounded to their small ranges and fiercely protective of their homes. Today, their endangerment has resulted from both natural and manmade factors, including the loss of the American chestnut and its central place in within Appalachian ecosystems.
Like the Allegheny woodrat, the people of Appalachia have thrived for generations in tight-knit groups at home among mountain ridges and mines. Our communities are often small, and our connection and loyalty to them is evident in the literal and metaphorical ties that often ground us to—or return us to—the places where we come from. Just as encroachments and the decline of the American chestnut have threatened the Allegheny woodrat, the changes in our communities have threatened the people of Appalachia who have struggled to maintain not only economic security but our identity, our voice, our culture, and our sense of place in modern American society. As defining industries have left, the result of economic and environmental pressures, it often seems as though the inherent connection to our communities is threatened by the need to pursue our livelihoods elsewhere. Just as the Allegheny woodrat has been pushed from its historic ranges, so too have so many of us been pushed to consider our own futures in the region. Both personally and collectively, this means that we now grabble with what our contemporary Appalachian identity represents when our home is threatened.
Like the American chestnut, our communities are resilient, but not impenetrable. Their vulnerabilities do not make them weak; they make them genuinely organic—they make them real. Rather than a natural blight, rural American and Appalachia specifically has been challenged by the forces of economics, politics, and society. International trade, automation, and the internet has transformed the expectations of rural economies. American politics now show a resurgence of an urban-rural political divide and competition between Appalachia and coastal cities for economic resources, political influence, and cultural significance. While change is hardly new for Appalachian communities, the changes of the modern era bring a historic level of uncertainty for countless foundations of rural cities and towns, from schools, to businesses, to churches and community organizations.
Much like the decline the American chestnut has forced unique changes for the Allegheny woodrat, the changes of modern Appalachia have forced rural and small town residents to confront how their communities can adapt to relocated businesses, vulnerable infrastructure, consolidated schools, and a sense of threat against a distinctly rural culture. While the challenges that Appalachia faces do not define us, our place-based identity that is tied to our homes drives our concern when the institutions, networks, and traditions that distinguish our communities are endangered. Just as the loss of the American chestnut has changed the way of life for the Allegheny woodrat, the trials faced by Appalachian communities—both economic and cultural—demand that Appalachian Americans meet the moment of change in order to resist the loss of our potential and our proud identity.
The story of the American chestnut is one of growth turned to decline, but it is also one of unique resilience. In “Evil Tendencies Cancel,” Frost makes another critical point that rings true today, “.../It keeps smouldering at the roots/And sending up new shoots/...,” referring to the enduring ability of American chestnut stumps and roots to generate new growth even as blight remains dominant. For the American chestnut, nature displays an unyielding resistance in the face of lasting obstacles. So too must rural America and Appalachia specifically display an enduring resistance, not to change in general, but to the idea that our region cannot overcome change to emerge stronger. As residents of Appalachia, we can both acknowledge the challenges that our communities face and proudly seek new strategies to address them.
For both the American chestnut and the Allegheny woodrat, the efforts to preserve their existence center on embracing innovative responses to lasting challenges of blight, encroachment, and competition for resources. For the American chestnuts of Appalachia, optimism comes from innovative conservation strategies drawing on surviving American chestnuts in other regions of the country and other plants. For Allegheny woodrats, dedicated research on their behaviors, habitats, and possible innovations in resource provision provide potential for greater regional stability.
These innovations provide inspiration for how Appalachia broadly can meet the challenges of the current era. For the communities and residents of our region, neither ignorance to the obstacles that we face nor cynicism that they are insurmountable are useful responses to these new trials. The literary, scientific, and public concern for the American chestnut stems from both its natural and cultural significance to Appalachia. For the region itself, the need to respond with dedication and optimism to the challenges that it faces stems from the terrific potential for the future of the people who call it home. Just as with the endeavors to restore the American chestnut, the path to regional sustainability requires an openness and inclusiveness to new people and new ideas. The efforts committed to the American chestnut and the Allegheny woodrat demonstrate that respect for the past and innovation for the future can be collectively impactful. It is noteworthy that the enduring shoots of the American chestnut grow from its persistent roots, just as the strength of Appalachia grows from the roots of the spirit and culture of its people, which are defined by resilience, loyalty, and community.
James Kirk is a Ph.D. Candidate in political science at the University of Notre Dame specializing in American politics. James’ research is focused on American political behavior, including the politics of rural America, and his ongoing research projects examine topics such as the relationship between rural identity and trust in government, the effect of coal mine closures on support for environmental public policy, and the religious and cultural roots of rural public opinion. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in political science and economics from Frostburg State University and a Master of Arts degree in political science from the University of Notre Dame. His research has been published or is forthcoming in Issues in Political Economy, The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics, and PS: Political Science & Politics.
Tile: Auguste Lepère, Chestnut Trees above a River, c.1900, Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington