For the love of (very big) trees
Welcome to my blog documenting my visits to big trees in British Columbia and beyond. I am planning to visit 43 Champion trees in BC between June 2018 and June 2019.
Welcome to my blog documenting my visits to big trees in British Columbia and beyond. I am planning to visit 43 Champion trees in BC between June 2018 and June 2019.
I'm indebted to the following books, websites, and articles. They have offered advice on finding and identifying trees, widened my perspectives on forestry in BC and Canada, and inspired my love of forests in general. This list, like everything except Trump, is a work-in-progress.
The Global Forest by Diana Beresford-Kroeger
The Sweetness of a Simple Life by Diana Beresford-Kroeger (disclaimer: I edited this book)
This Crazy Time by Tzeporah Berman (disclaimer: I edited this book)
Eating Dirt by Charlotte Gill
The Legacy of Luna by Julia Butterfly Hill
The Wild Trees by Richard Preston
The Sacred Balance by David Suzuki
Vancouver Tree Book by David Tracey
The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
BC Big Tree registry (how it all began; maintained by UBC Forestry)
E-Flora BC (Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia)
Native-Land (a starting point for understanding which unceded territories I am visiting)
Vancouver Big Tree Hiking Guide (a useful guide for finding Big Trees around Vancouver; maintained by Ira Sutherland, Chair of the BC Big Tree Registry)
Vancouver Island Big Trees (a useful guide for...you guessed it)
BC Tree Hunter (a blog chronicling big-tree visits on Vancouver Island and in the North Shore Mountains)
Sierra Club BC (a registered charity that works to defend BC’s wild places and species, with a strong mandate to preserve BC’s old-growth forests)
Coming soon...
I'm an average hiker, and I'm fabled for my ability to lose my way in my own neighbourhood. I also think that you don't need a ton of fancy equipment to see these trees, many of which are located a short day trip from Vancouver. Here is some of the gear I bring: iPhone with compass and camera (all the photos on this site were taken with an iPhone), tennis ball for scale (science!), tree guidebooks, maps, dark chocolate.