The “competition” organized to catalogue Salt Spring’s largest trees is heating up, organizers said, with islanders reporting several absolute giants.
And there is a “most remarkable” tie for the largest Douglas Fir on Salt Spring right now, according to Big Tree Project founder Doug Wahlsten: a pair of trees at different locations, each measuring more than nine feet in diameter.
“Nine feet one inch,” said Wahlsten. “And there are another 15 ‘candidates’ that we have not yet visited to verify.”
The Big Tree Project on Salt Spring Island was announced in the May/June issue of Aqua Magazine, and Wahlsten said already they had registered 34 trees of several species of exceptional size. The project has been curating a growing, well-sorted list of the largest standing specimens on Salt Spring, complete with proof via accurate measurements and colour photography.
Wahlsten said the group had met many on Salt Spring who “solemnly declared” that early settlers surely cut all the old growth forest on the island — not quite true, he said, noting that most of the trees on the Big Tree Project’s list would have been alive and growing before European colonists arrived more than 150 years ago.
“They appear to be widely distributed and today reside in most sectors of the island,” said Wahlsten. “Most but not all of the old growth has been logged, which renders the survivors all the more precious and remarkable.”
After the Aqua article, Wahlsten said, there had been enough interest to expand the “registry” to include very old trees of which only large stumps remain.
“Several exceed seven feet in diameter,” said Wahlsten, “and must have been far larger when they fell and began to decay.”
A photo book is planned, featuring the island’s giants; Wahlsten said specimens from old photos will also be included in the final tally before the book is produced.
Anyone with a tree they think might be among the biggest can contact him at wahlsten2@gmail.com.