West Virginia Plans to Move Chestnut Grove at Planned Nscale AI Data Center Site, 404 Media Reports

Bot Mutiny | October 21, 2026

Summary

West Virginia's governor's office says an American chestnut grove at the planned Nscale data center campus will be relocated in late 2027. A forest pathologist told WCHS-TV that moving the trees would kill them.

West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey's office has announced that a grove of American chestnut trees at the site of a planned AI data center campus in Mason County will be relocated in late 2027, while a forest pathologist says moving the trees would kill them within two to five years, 404 Media reported on October 21, 2026. The campus is Nscale's Monarch Compute Campus, a planned 2,250-acre project whose clients, according to 404 Media, include Anthropic, Nvidia and Microsoft. Nscale says it never planned to bulldoze or cut down the trees.

The dispute

404 Media reported that the grove sits on the former Clements State Nursery, which the planned campus encompasses. The nursery kept 15 to 20 chestnut trees that showed promising blight resistance before the state Division of Natural Resources quietly stopped operating it in 2021, citing funding issues, according to a Charleston Gazette-Mail report cited by 404 Media. Mark Double, a past president of the West Virginia chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation, told 404 Media that all of the remaining trees are infected with the blight fungus but that most have survived 35 years, and that the chapter has harvested nuts from the orchard for more than a decade.

In recent weeks, 404 Media reported, social media posts claimed bulldozers were lined up and the grove was about to be destroyed after November 1, 2026. A reader had emailed the reporter saying the trees faced "potential destruction after November 1, 2026." 404 Media reported that a representative for Goldberry Grove, the local orchard whose post spread the claim, declined to provide an on-the-record source for the November 1 deadline or the bulldozer claims.

What Nscale and the state say

Nscale told 404 Media it does not currently own the former nursery but is under a plan for purchase agreement. "There was never a plan to bulldoze the nursery or cut down the trees," a company spokesperson said, adding that Nscale has always planned to incorporate the trees into the campus. The company said a recent arborist assessment found the trees suffer from blight and adverse health conditions. Nscale Senior Vice President Pete Hollis told West Virginia Public Broadcasting there "will never be a plan to bulldoze or cut down the trees."

On October 10, Morrisey's office announced a preservation plan under which, in its words, "the existing trees will be relocated to a more suitable environment within the property, potentially as part of an arboretum or integrated landscaping." The press release said the work is scheduled for late 2027, during the trees' dormant season, under professional arborist supervision.

Amy Metheny, a forest pathologist for the West Virginia chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation, told WCHS-TV that relocating the trees would kill them. "It's my professional opinion that if the trees were moved they would die within two to five years," she said, according to 404 Media.

Asked about that, a spokesperson for Morrisey's office told 404 Media the state is aware of the transplanting concerns. The West Virginia Department of Agriculture found that the trees are expected to keep dying under current site conditions, the spokesperson said, and that relocating chestnut clumps with proper care may improve their health, although some losses are expected. The spokesperson also said the property is subject to a legally binding purchase option signed in 2023 by the previous administration, and that the company has said relocation remains its plan and it will cover the cost.

An earlier assurance

404 Media cited a May 2024 newsletter from The American Chestnut Foundation that quoted West Virginia Commerce Secretary James Bailey assuring the state chapter that the trees would remain. "We value the chestnuts and will ensure that they are cared for," the newsletter quoted Bailey as saying. The newsletter also noted the grove's future was "unclear."

Runoff and flooding at the campus site

404 Media also reported on construction problems at the Monarch site. The state Department of Environmental Protection ordered Nscale "to immediately repair and strengthen the stormwater controls that failed" after muddy runoff events, according to 404 Media, which cited West Virginia MetroNews. In September, heavy storms reportedly caused nearby neighborhoods to flood as runoff from the site sent water and debris onto adjacent properties, 404 Media said, citing WSAZ. Nscale told WOWK 13 it would pay for the damage, and the company is also trying to buy out nearby homeowners, some of whom are resisting.

A second data center, Project Tamarack, is planned about 10 miles south of the Monarch campus by Starwood Digital Ventures. A Starwood spokesperson told 404 Media the grove is not on Starwood's land.