BIOLOGISTS DISCOVERS GIANT, 2,000 YEAR OLD RED CEDAR IN VANCOUVER, CANADA
What is the old saying? You can’t see the forest for the trees? Well, there’s certainly some truth to that in all of our lives, every day. But this story is the opposite, and still surprising. You can’t see the tree for the forest. And for this tree, that was true until just recently. A biologist named Ian Thomas and his colleague Colin Spratt were at the end of a 10-hour “bushwhack” when they made a startling discovery, a red cedar tree that is as old as 2,000 years. It seems no one knew this giant was there, until now. In this case, “there” was a remote area of North Vancouver’s Lynn Headwaters Regional Park.
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THIS GIANT RED CEDAR IS AS BROAD AS A BOEING 747 CARGO AIRPLANE, OFFICIAL SIZE TBA
The two tree hunters have dubbed the new, ancient find the North Shore Giant. This old red cedar is a true giant, measuring 4-8-5.8 meters in diameter. For those addicted to anything but metric, that translates into roughly the entire cabin area of a Boeing 747. And if you can’t visualize that, well, it’s large. Like, very large. Evidently, it’s no easy thing accurately measuring the true size of a tree this large. But I’m certain they’ll get more specific soon, especially considering how this is possibly the 4th largest red cedar left in the world.
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LOCATED ON INDIGENOUS LANDS, THE RED CEDAR NORTH SHORE GIANT WILL HAVE AVID CARETAKERS
But it is still surprising that this tree has been all alone without any human appreciation until now, despite its remote location. But considering that its location lies within the indigenous Tsleil-Waututh Nation territories, it will be carefully appreciated and even loved. Those people have deep cultural ties. For the Tsleil-Waututh, these trees are medicine. They’ve literally been using these trees for generations, from the roots to the ends of the branches. But not this giant, ancient cedar! It is literally one of the largest and oldest living things anywhere on the planet.
