One of America’s Last Remaining Chestnut Groves Could Soon Be Wiped Out to Make Room for an AI Data Center

In the late 19th century, a relentless fungus known as chestnut blight decimated American chestnut trees, wiping out an estimated 4 billion trees in the United States. Today, only stumps remain from the once-abundant trees. While scientists have developed blight-resistant hybrids, mature groves are scarce, with less than 4,300 acres of fruit-producing trees reported in 2023. However, one chestnut grove might face destruction to accommodate an AI data center in West Virginia.

The "Monarch Compute Campus," a sprawling facility developed by Nscale in collaboration with Nvidia and Caterpillar, is set to cover over 2,250 acres and generate 8 gigawatts of computing power for AI companies like Anthropic. The project, valued at over $20 billion, is touted as the largest single AI infrastructure investment in U.S. history. However, the future of a 200-tree grove of blight-resistant chestnuts is uncertain.

Considered irreplaceable as a crucial seed source for future chestnut growth, these trees were planted in the 1970s from surviving American chestnuts. To Nscale, the project represents "one of the largest single AI infrastructure investments in US history, anchoring America's compute foundation." Yet, as Front Lines emphasizes, these chestnut trees are vital for the restoration of the species across West Virginia.