There are so many Big Trees still standing in the Pacific Northwest, many of them are the biggest of their kind. There are many folks who over the years have stood up to logging companies and governments when they tried to log these beauties, they still fight for them every day, although as the years go by, there are fewer and fewer of them to protect.
Admiral Broeren
In the Sayward Valley area, way up high above Cooper Creek, in the Salmon River watershed, at the end of a long rough road, you will reach the Admiral Broeren Rec Site and the home of Vancouver Islands’ biggest Yellow Cedar. The area has many large trees with some almost as big as the Admiral. Admiral Broeren is about 11 meters in circumference and about 50 meters high. Read More….
Cheewat Cedar
The Cheewhat Cedar may not be the tallest cedar tree in the world, but it is the biggest one, you should try to see this tree. Getting there is the trip, it’s 3 hours from Port Alberni on a rough gravel logging road. Along the way, you will see some very memorable spots of incredible vistas, deep canyons, wild rivers, beautiful lakes, first-people villages, and plenty of wildlife. I recommend that everyone takes this journey at least once in their lives. Read More….
Harris Creek Spruce
If you are driving between Port Renfrew from Lake Cowichan, you must stop at the Harris Creek Spruce Tree. It’s not very often that one can find a tree of this size located within a few meters of a paved and easily accessed road. This tree was leftover from logging that was done here in the late 1890s, it makes me wonder why this particular tree was left standing. Read More….
Presidents Tree
The Presidents Tree is over 300 years old and to the residents of Tahsis, it is the welcome mat as they return home. Tahsis is located on the west coast of Vancouver Island, now there is a good gravel road that runs from Gold River to Tahsis but when l was a boy, there was no road then and you either flew or took the Uchuck boat into Tahsis. It grows right alongside the road with ample access to it. This tree was dedicated to the President of the Tahsis company, J.V. Christensen. Read More….
There are so many Big Trees still standing in the Pacific Northwest, many of them are the biggest of their kind. There are many folks who over the years have stood up to logging companies and governments when they tried to log these beauties, they still fight for them every day, although as the years go by, there are fewer and fewer of them to protect. The logging companies and governments seem to be of one mind when it comes to logging these wonders of the forest, big bucks talk. The logging companies are once again clamouring to the BC government about letting them log the Carmanah/Walbran watersheds on Vancouver Island, if we are not careful, we might not have any old trees left.
We need to save as many of these Big Trees as we can, we need to protect at least one complete watershed that is untouched by logging so future generations can study how trees grow and interact with all the other members of the forest. There is so much we have yet to learn, stuff that can only be learned by studying these old-growth forests.
There is also a tourism component to these forests, people will travel from around the world just to get a chance to walk amongst these giants. As more and more come to visit coastal BC for this purpose, the people here will benefit financially while at the same time preserving these forests.
This giant Red Cedar had fallen over naturally. She had for one reason or another, come to the end of her life as a standing giant, however, she will spend many generations as a nurse log for future forests and as a home for a wide variety of life. It was awesome to have met her. She was a Big Tree.