West Virginia Chestnut Grove Faces Threat From Proposed AI Data Center

A rare chestnut grove could be caught in the path of a major AI project

About 200 blight-resistant American chestnut trees in West Virginia may be threatened by plans for the Monarch Compute Campus, a proposed large-scale artificial intelligence data center. The grove, planted in the 1970s, is described in reporting on the project as an important source of genetic material for efforts to restore the species.

The campus is being developed by Nscale in collaboration with Nvidia and Caterpillar. Plans call for a site spanning more than 2,250 acres, with 8 gigawatts of computing capacity. Nscale has described the development as “one of the largest single AI infrastructure investments in US history.”

A potential resource for restoration

The threat has drawn attention because American chestnuts were devastated by chestnut blight, a fungal disease that began spreading in North America in the early 20th century. The supplied report estimates that the blight destroyed about four billion trees. While shoots can grow from surviving stumps, they often succumb before reaching maturity.

Researchers and horticulturists have pursued breeding programs and blight-resistant hybrids, making surviving groves potentially valuable. A report by the New York-based Global Justice Ecology Project calls the West Virginia planting a “vital ‘genetics library’” and describes it as “the primary seed source to restore the species across West Virginia.”

The grove could provide seeds and genetic material for future chestnut populations. Its loss, conservation advocates warn, could therefore affect restoration efforts beyond the site itself.

Development and conservation in conflict

The campus is intended to supply computing infrastructure for AI companies, including Anthropic, as demand grows for facilities to train and run artificial intelligence models. The development’s ultimate effect on the grove will depend on the plans and whether the trees can be protected or accommodated during construction.

The case puts two competing priorities in focus: expanding energy-intensive AI infrastructure and conserving a rare biological resource that may help restore a species once widespread across the United States.