SANDUSKY — For about seven years, the state's natural resources leaders have harbored a secret.

They still won't reveal the exact location of it or allow outsiders to see it.

This Ohio treasure's existence was closely guarded until last week when the director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources revealed that a full-size American Chestnut tree still stands in a marsh near Lake Erie, the Sandusky Register reported recently.

For tree experts, it's a big deal.

American chestnuts that grew up to 120 feet once accounted for about 25 percent of the forests in the eastern half of North America until a fungus wiped out all but a few.

"They are often referred to as the redwood of the East because of their tremendous size," Gary Obermiller, a regional manager for the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves.

The fungus was first detected in 1904 in trees in New York City, and by 1950 some 3.5 billion trees — about 90 percent of the species — were dead.

Only a few trees had resistance to the fungus and survived.

In Ohio, most American chestnut trees were found in the eastern half of the state.

In August, the Dayton Daily News reported on the existence of a stand of American chestnuts anchored in a working sandstone quarry in Braceville Twp., Trumbull County, just west of Warren near the Mahoning River.

The specimens that sit on a standstone knob are a handful, the tallest reaching 75 feet.

According to the Register, the state's largest existing chestnut tree — known only to a few until last week — is in Sheldon Marsh, a 465-acre state nature preserve about midway between Toledo and Cleveland.

The tree stands 89 feet tall and has a 5-foot circumference. "To our knowledge, we don't have any that come close to this size," Obermiller said.

Most surviving chestnut trees are small, sprouting from the roots of trees killed by the fungus.

Steve Maurer, the new chief of Natural Areas and Preserves, decided the public should be told about the tree, Obermiller said.

"He realized this was a very special tree," Obermiller said.

American

American chestnut trees once made up about 25 percent of forests in eastern North America.

The trees grew up to 120 feet tall and lived up to 600 years.

Its wood was valuable because it was straight, light and rot-resistant.

A fungus that eventually wiped out most of the trees was first found in 1904 in New York.

All American Chestnut trees in New York City were dead by 1912.

By 1950 about 3.5 billion trees — about 90 percent of the species — were dead.