[SECProto]

American Chestnuts that have gained resistance to blight via selective breeding, hybridization with a different species, or insertion of a different gene are all genetically modified. The only difference is the source of the modification. Starting a comment with the inflammatory statement "Releasing GMO chestnuts will contaminant the gene pool forever, it's a bad idea" doesn't serve the discussion well.

Humans are really good at throwing environmental pressure (logging) after environmental pressure (chestnut blight) after environmental pressure (urban air pollution) after environmental pressure (global warming) at species. The speed with which these pressures arise is faster than natural selection can deal with for most species, and are leading to an extinction event rather than species just learning to adapt. If we can make minor direct genetic modifications to help species cope, I think it's an unqualified win.