Nscale pledges to preserve chestnut grove facing West Virginia relocation plan

Nscale says it intends to preserve a historic American chestnut grove within its planned West Virginia AI campus. But the state’s proposed way to save the trees—moving them—has drawn a warning that they would die. The competing positions emerge in 404 Media’s October 21 reporting on the former Clements State Tree Nursery.

The grove stands within the footprint of Nscale’s planned 2,250-acre Monarch Compute Campus in Mason County. Nscale told 404 Media it does not yet own the former nursery property, which is under a purchase agreement. Its assurances concern how the company would care for the trees once it owns the land, rather than a completed transfer.

Two views of what would save the trees

Governor Patrick Morrisey announced the relocation plan on October 10. The trees would move elsewhere within the property in late 2027, during their dormant season, under professional arborist supervision. His office described a potentially more suitable setting, possibly an arboretum or part of the campus landscaping.

Asked about transplanting risks, the governor’s office told 404 Media it had discussed those concerns with a member of the American Chestnut Foundation’s West Virginia chapter. It cited a state Department of Agriculture assessment that predicted continued tree deaths under current conditions. Moving chestnut clumps with proper care might improve their health, the office said, although some losses were expected.

Amy Metheny, a forest pathologist for the West Virginia American Chestnut Foundation, offered a sharply different prognosis to WCHS-TV. Her warning concerned survival after a move, not whether the trees would be deliberately cut down.

It’s my professional opinion that if the trees were moved they would die within two to five years

Amy Metheny, forest pathologist, speaking to WCHS-TV

Infected, but still valuable for restoration

The remaining chestnuts are not healthy specimens untouched by disease. Mark Double, a past president of the foundation’s West Virginia chapter, told 404 Media that all are infected with the blight fungus. Many trees have died over the years. Most of those remaining, however, have shown enough resistance to survive for 35 years despite repeated infections.

That endurance gives the grove a role beyond landscaping. Double said the chapter has harvested nuts from the orchard for more than a decade. The former nursery kept 15 to 20 chestnuts showing promising signs of blight resistance, part of the conservation effort to restore a species devastated by the disease.

The governor’s office also pointed to mature chestnuts in Tyler County from the same original source as the Clements planting. Those trees are producing nuts, and approximately 500 were expected to support additional planting. That is a separate restoration measure from the proposed relocation of the existing grove.

A preservation pledge, not a settled outcome

Nscale told 404 Media it had always intended to incorporate the American chestnuts into the campus. The company said it would work with professional arborists and conservation experts to determine how best to preserve and integrate them, covering all costs. It also said a recent arborist assessment found blight and other adverse health conditions.

That pledge also challenges viral claims of imminent destruction. Local orchard Goldberry Grove posted that the chestnuts would be bulldozed after November 1, 2026. In its examination of that claim, 404 Media said a representative declined to provide an on-the-record source for the deadline or bulldozer allegations. Nscale denied ever planning to bulldoze the nursery or cut down the trees.