BATP featured in Boulder Today
Photo credit: Boulder Historical Society
Uncovering Boulder's forgotten apple tree legacy. Story by Trent Noss
University of Colorado Boulder students and researchers are combining old-fashioned historical sleuthing with cutting-edge genetic testing and grafting in the hopes of reviving one of Boulder’s long-dormant legacies: apple trees.
The Boulder Apple Tree Project, which began in fall 2017 and resumed sampling this spring, will explore the identity and history of apple varieties in Boulder and the surrounding area in the hopes of improving future urban agricultural planning. Led by CU Boulder Professor Katharine Suding, researchers are studying these heirloom trees of yesteryear in order to gain insight into their adaptability and rediscover varieties that are hanging on the edge of survival.
“The apples that Coloradans see in their local produce section represent a small fraction of the region’s genetic diversity,” said Suding of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EBIO), who serves as the lead investigator of the project. “This effort could uncover rare and uncommon varieties that have been lost to time.”
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