Data Center Threatens Rare American Chestnut Orchard In W.Va.
Nscale is developing a data center campus in Mason County, West Virginia, that will be built over a rare American chestnut orchard on the former Clements State Tree Nursery site. After public pressure, Nscale and Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s office said the company plans to relocate the trees in 2027, but local residents and tree experts say moving them could destroy the genetically significant orchard.
Nscale’s Monarch Computing Campus is being developed on the former Clements State Tree Nursery in Mason County, home to West Virginia’s only known sexually mature American chestnut orchard. The trees are important to restoration research because they produce nuts despite blight, and the orchard supplies seedlings to the West Virginia chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation.
After years without a publicly disclosed plan for the orchard, online criticism prompted Nscale and Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s office to announce that the trees would be moved at the company’s expense during the winter of 2027. Nscale Senior Vice President Pete Hollis said the company had never planned to cut down the trees and would consult experts, but ruled out leaving them in place. Community organizer Alex Cole, Marshall University professor Casey Moran and retired researcher Mark Double questioned whether the mature, closely spaced, blight-affected trees could survive relocation.
The project was approved through a West Virginia state program that exempts certain developments from some local permitting and zoning requirements, limiting public engagement. Nscale has not yet finalized the relocation plan or announced related community meetings, while the land sale remains incomplete. Anthropic is expected to lease computing capacity from the campus but did not comment on the orchard controversy.