A biologist has discovered possibly one of the widest trees on record in B.C
Ian Thomas measured a western red cedar in North Vancouver, British Columbia to be somewhere between 4.8 and 5.8 meters in diameter.
If Thomas’ preliminary measurements are correct, the giant he found in Lynn Headwaters Regional Park would barely fit in the cockpit of a Boeing 747.
The tree’s diameter at breast height (DBH) has yet to be officially confirmed and could be up to one meter short of its estimate of 5.8 metres, he said, depending on how it is measured on an uneven, steep slope.
Regardless of its exact size, there is no doubt that the massive tree is very, very old.
“It happened at the end of about a 10-hour bushwhack,” Thomas told CBC’s On The Coast host Gloria Makarenko on Monday. “I spend a lot of my time studying satellite maps and government datasets – and just walking around these amazing, endangered ancient forests that we’re so lucky to have, some of them here in British Columbia”
He and his colleague Colin Spratt named the “awe-inspiring” tree they found in a grove of “primitive” red cedars, “The Giant of the North Shore.”
Big tree hunter Colin Spratt stands with a very large western red cedar at Lynn Headwaters Regional Park in North Vancouver. He and biologist Ian Thomas measured the diameter at breast height (DBH) as up to 5.8 metres, although another method might reduce this to 4.8 metres, still making it one of the largest trees on record in the .no. (Ian Thomas)
The tree is on the territories of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. Its director of treaty, lands and resources said western red cedars were used by his people for everything from canoes, clothing and buildings to ceremonial and medicinal purposes.
“Everything from the roots to the branches to the trunks,” Gabriel George said in a phone interview. “To our people, they are medicine… The cedar tree is sacred to us.”
Hearing about the find made his “heart happy” and he hoped it reminded others of the importance of British Columbia’s few remaining ancient old-growth forests.
“When I saw that picture and heard that story, it was so inspiring,” he said.
Although this particular cedar is in an already protected area, Thomas said it’s a reminder of how blessed the province is to still have such natural wonders.
“You’re meeting one of the largest and oldest living things on this planet,” he said. “It’s almost like seeing a blue whale or a northern white rhino – this little piece of this rich, wild world.”
According to University of British Columbia forestry professor Robert Guy, large western red cedars host “ecosystems throughout most of their branches.”
“A tree that size must be very old,” he said. “They can reach an age of 1,000 to 2,000 years. We have trees on the north shore that are up to 2,000 years old.”
Because red cedars become hollow as they age, it is often impossible to count their inner rings like other trees.
Onshore10:382000 year old western red cedar found in remote part of North Vancouver
A giant western red cedar has been discovered in a remote part of North Vancouver, and it turns out it may be one of the largest remaining of its species. We speak to one of the tree hunters who discovered this giant of the North Shore.
According to the University of British Columbia’s Large Tree Registry, a tree with a diameter of 5.8 meters would be the fourth widest on record.
The previous top seven on the register are all on Vancouver Island, with the widest being a six-metre western red cedar in Pacific Rim National Park.
At Lynn Headwaters, the largest recorded tree diameter was 5.1 meters, also a red cedar. Any tree over 4.8 meters wide will be in the top 13 of the province.
The Register could not be reached for comment on Thomas’ preliminary measurements. He said a committee member was in the process of verifying the size of the tree.
Based on photos, Guy said, the tree appears unhealthy, a phenomenon he said is increasingly common in British Columbia
“Red cedar has shown more signs of distress in recent years than other … species during drought,” he said. “Which is probably related to climate change.
“So I guess another thing about these trees is that they remind us that they’ve been through a lot — but they might not in the next hundred years or so.”
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