What’s the Mystery Behind Canada’s Photo-Logged Old Growth Tree?

Back in May of 2021, a particular photo of a massive tree trunk in the back of a logging truck on a Vancouver highway sparked controversy and disbelief from as far away as Japan. What exactly was it that caused the controversy?

Lorna Beecroft, who snapped the photo said she was ‘stunned’ by the size of the tree. She wanted to show her friends on Facebook. The problem is that old-growth trees such as that are usually protected from logging practices. For example, in the United States, such trees are usually protected in national parks and reserves such as the Olympic National Park in Washington state and Redwood National Park in California. In some countries, such as New Zealand, its outright illegal to log old-growth trees.

In Canada, however, old-growth tree-logging is not explicitly prohibited by law. However, the government of the province of British Columbia has certain restrictions in place including a Special Tree Protection Regulation. It went into effect in September of last year and it was meant to prevent the province’s largest remaining trees.

The log that Ms. Beecroft photographed was a Sitka spruce. The species, along with Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar, is one of three giants forming Vancouver Island’s triumvirate of big trees. Under the right conditions, these trees can live for thousands of years and grow to the size of large grain silos. With 12,000 square miles of terrain, much of it largely undeveloped and rugged, Vancouver Island is home to the world’s largest Douglas Fir. It stands at 242 feet tall and 14.3 feet wide. The island also features the second-largest Sitka Spruce, which is 205 feet tall and nearly 12.5 feet wide. Both of these old-growth trees are believed to be at least 1,000 years old. Trees of this size are awe-inspiring and serve as carbon sinks, biodiversity wellsprings and climate-change buffers.  

 Chek News, a local Vancouver station, reported that the log turned internet sensation was destined to become guitar parts. When Ms. Beecroft photographed it, the tree was on its way to Acoustic Woods Ltd., a manufacturer of acoustic guitar soundboards and other musical-instrument parts. Ed Dicks, the present of the company, told the news source that the log was part of a tree that measured about seven feet in diameter. According to his estimate, the tree would produce around 3,000 soundboards. Mr. Dicks said he had purchased the log unseen, as part of a package of logging materials, back in the fall of 2020. However, he maintains that he had no clue as to where the trees were felled other than on the north side of Vancouver Island.

British Columbia’s Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development confirmed that the log came from a cut block on north Vancouver Island. In a statement emailed to several news outlets, the ministry’s spokesperson said that the tree was cut by a Canadian lumber company by the name of Western Forest Products sometime between March and August of 2020. This would’ve been before the province’s Special Tree Protection Regulation went into effect.

Debate waged over whether the tree would’ve been protected by the Special Regulations or not. Some say it was too ‘small’ and complain that the threshold set up British Columbia’s government were ‘intentionally high’ so that they would only protect “the very, very biggest trees that were out there.” As critics state, the ordinance was “designed to have as minimal impact on the industry as possible.”

Whatever the truth of the matter is, the fact remains that the image as well as the ordinance are both controversial. Only time will tell if BC is really adamant about protecting its largest and oldest trees. We do hope you enjoyed this article and we look forward to bringing you more like this in the coming weeks and months.