There鈥檚 a race going on in the eastern portion of Stanley Park that doesn鈥檛 get the attention of, say, the BMO or Scotiabank marathons of the world.
In this case, participants are roughly 130 years old and slower than dirt.
Most of them are named 鈥淒oug.鈥�
Enter what鈥檚 colloquially known among naturalists as 鈥淪econd Chance Grove,鈥� a somewhat unspectacular cluster of forest that鈥檚 home to Vancouver鈥檚 tallest tree.
A short jaunt south from Beaver Lake, the towering tree measures 63.6 metres 鈥� the equivalent of more than five standard sized TransLink buses stacked end to end, 10 metres taller than city hall and twice as tall as the iconic Lee Building at Broadway and Main.
The Douglas fir is referred to as the 鈥淪econd Chance Tree,鈥� given its history growing out of the ashes of the Great Fire of 1886, which nearly incinerated the entire city. 听听听
But with a series of neighbouring trees in its immediate vicinity, why does nature gift this particular specimen with such a lofty distinction?
鈥淭he short answer is they are all about 63 metres because they鈥檙e growing together as a group,鈥� explains Ira Sutherland, a PhD student in UBC鈥檚 faculty of forestry. 鈥淭hese trees are adapted to grow in the light-limited environments of the West Coast, so they鈥檙e competing with each other to stay ahead of each other so they don鈥檛 get left behind in the shade.鈥澨�
Sutherland, as it turns out, is a big deal in the big tree community. He studies them, writes about them, climbs them and measures them.
He鈥檚 also chair of the B.C. BigTree Registry, an ad hoc group of conservationists, professional foresters and ex-government employees who scour the province in search of the next big one.
Sutherland鈥檚 knowledge of trees, particularly the big ones, is encyclopedic.
But before rattling off specifics, some housekeeping is needed first.
To that point, tallest doesn鈥檛 mean biggest and vice versa. Tallest is calculated by measuring from top to bottom, but biggest is determined by an aggregate score taking into account a tree鈥檚 height, its diameter as measured at breast height and the width of the tree鈥檚 crown.
Outside of dropping a tape measure from top to bottom, tall trees are measured using a system called Lidar. Similar in function to radar, a Lidar instrument is typically mounted to a plane or helicopter and sends laser signals to the ground. The amount of time it takes the laser to bounce back to the instrument determines the tree鈥檚 height.
Without further ado, a list of highlights:
- Tallest tree in Canada: a Sitka Spruce, about 96 metres high and roughly 600 years old, located in the Carmanah Valley on 麻豆传媒映画Island.
- Tallest tree in 麻豆传媒映画history: a Douglas fir recorded in Kerrisdale in 1886 measured about 122 metres tall 鈥� the equivalent distance from home plate to the centre field wall in most major league baseball parks.
- Tallest tree in Metro 麻豆传媒映画history: referred to as the 鈥淟ynn Valley Tree,鈥� it was measured at 126 metres in 1902. The region鈥檚 biggest trees were mostly all cut down by 1905.
- Tallest existing tree in Metro Vancouver: a Douglas fir named the Temple Giant that鈥檚 86 metres high and found in the Seymour Valley.
- Biggest big leaf maple tree in Canada: it鈥檚 near the Hollow Tree in Stanley Park (29 metres in height and 3.4 metres in diameter).
- Biggest red alder in Canada: near the concession stand at Third Beach (24.6 metres). 听
- Oldest tree in Vancouver: Sutherland suggests it鈥檚 likely a red cedar in Stanley Park that鈥檚 stood for 600 years if not longer. Higher elevations on the North Shore are home to trees that are believed to be upwards of 1,500 years old.
That 麻豆传媒映画even has some old-growth forest remaining is a fact Sutherland likes to stress both as a point of pride and to counter some of the doom and gloom around forestry in general. The stretch of forest that runs along the western edge of UBC and along the banks of the Fraser River south to Marine Drive is home to 400-year-old trees. Stanley Park contains trees that date back six centuries.
鈥淎 lot of people I engage with are really surprised to learn there鈥檚 any old growth forest at all,鈥� Sutherland said. 鈥淚 think that might come from decades of rhetoric that we鈥檙e cutting down the last of the white rhinos or that we鈥檙e driving these large trees extinct. It鈥檚 small in percentage compared to the historical extent, but there鈥檚 enough left that we should still have hope that there is still old growth left.鈥�
Dannie Piezas gets to bask in that majesty of old growth for a living. An environmental educator with the Stanley Park Ecology Society, she leads walking tours throughout the park, imparting the ways of the ancient ones on schoolkids, tourists and corporate groups.听
Born in Manila, Philippines and now a Vancouverite, Piezas鈥檚 entire life has been surrounded by urban sprawl. She鈥檚 never lived in the bush, but life in the park will do just fine.
鈥淚鈥檓 a teacher but my classroom is outside, so it鈥檚 like being in the middle of two worlds,鈥� she said.听
Keeping the pristine jewel that is Stanley Park in tact is also on Piezas鈥檚 to-do list, and it鈥檚 at this point that she offers some rules of engagement: don鈥檛 stray from the path, don鈥檛 disturb the underbrush and be mindful of the root systems at your feet.
Dog owners need to respect off-leash rules so that Rover doesn鈥檛 trample sensitive habitat or inadvertently transport seeds to where they shouldn鈥檛 be spread.
You鈥檒l also have fight the urge to unleash your inner Casanova 鈥� picking wild flowers for that special someone is a no-no.
Piezas led the Courier on an hour-plus tour of Stanley Park that went past Second Chance Tree, through an area called 鈥淭all Tree Grove鈥� and ended near the intersection of Lee鈥檚 Trail and Bridal Path.
It鈥檚 at that junction that 鈥淒oug鈥� made himself readily apparent. At 60 metres high and 2.6 metres in diameter, this particular Douglas fir is impossible to miss.
The 600-year-old behemoth withstood the 1886 fire, the 2006 and 2018 windstorms, waterlog, disease and anything else nature has thrown at it.
Doug even has the scars of past logging operations across its bark that seemingly go a foot deep.
It鈥檚 that resilience and shared wonder that makes Piezas鈥檚 job impervious to boredom.
鈥淚 am so blessed to have this job because I am able to go through that sense of wonder all over again,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f I鈥檓 telling them a fact I鈥檝e said 100 times, or if I鈥檓 able to show them a bald eagle I鈥檝e seen 200 times and they get that wow factor, I experience it all over again.鈥�
@JohnKurucz
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