Seeking Genetic Diversity in Abandoned Apple Orchards

As we roared downstream through the River of No Return Wilderness via jet boat, skipping off rapids and dodging just-submerged boulders, I decided my imaginary movie version of this adventure should be titled Indiana Appleseed in the Canyon of Lost Treasure. Naturally it would be packed with whitewater action, pioneer spirit, hungry black bears and most importantly, a whole lot of strange apples. First, the backstory. Sadie Barrett–who took me on this Salmon River jet boat expedition–and project partner Candace Burns decided they needed to save the neglected, sometimes century-old apple trees they saw slowly dying all over Idaho’s Lemhi County. As a kid growing up in Salmon, the 35-year-old Barrett used to munch on apples from trees planted by Idaho’s early pioneers. But upon returning to her hometown after a 10-year absence, she was stunned by the number of trees that had disappeared. “They’d either been built over or just had perished because they hadn’t been irrigated,” Barrett said. Barrett and Burns decided this threatened edible heritage shouldn’t be left to quietly sink into oblivion, so the two women made plans to catalog, take cuttings and graft as many worthy fruit trees as they could find. As we skittered [...]