Among the rocks in one Dauphin County outcropping, native chestnut shoots still tried to make a go of it. Some were about 8 feet high. To this day, the root systems of American chestnuts remain below the forest floor; the blight doesn't affect them. But they're "functionally extinct," Hoy said. "Native chestnut trees live in the understory - maybe survive about 20 years; maybe produce nuts for a year - but they'll get the blight through a wound in the bark," Hoy explained. "If another tree falls on it, or a buck rubs its antlers on it, it's all over for the tree. The blight is a wound pathogen." The caches were established to ensure the three outcroppings provided resident woodrats with food to store for overwinter. That was important last fall because acorn production on that mountain was low. Planting chestnut trees offered delayed assistance. "We're planting trees so that in 10 to 15 years they hopefully will be providing Game Commission biologist Dan Mummert, right, plants an American chestnut within the rocks of a State Game Lands 211 woodrat colony. Above, a state-threatened Allegheny woodrat. MARCH 2017 41