Big Lonely Doug is a large
Coast Douglas-fir
''Pseudotsuga menziesii'' var. ''menziesii'', commonly known as Coast Douglas-fir, Pacific Douglas-fir, Oregon pine, or Douglas spruce, is an evergreen conifer native to western North America from west-central British Columbia, Canada southward t ...
(
Pseudotsuga menziesii
The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...
) tree located in the
Gordon River Valley of
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...
in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. It is the
second largest Douglas-fir tree in Canada after the
Red Creek Fir in nearby
San Juan Valley
San Juan Valley, sometimes called San Benito Valley formerly Canada de San Benito or Llano De San Juan is a valley that has its head near the Gabilan Range. Bounded on the north by the Lomerias Muertas and the Flint Hills and south and east by th ...
.
[
]
History
The tree was seeded sometime around 1000 CE.[
In 2011, logger Dennis Cronin discovered the enormous tree while surveying a patch of forest that was to be logged for ]timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...
. He wrapped green ribbon around the tree with the words "Leave Tree" repeated along the ribbon, saving it from being felled. In 2014, photographer and activist T.J. Watt happened upon the tree and named it "Big Lonely Doug", a play on the tree's species name and its relative isolation amid the clearcut. The tree has since become a symbol of nature conservation in Canada
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...
,
Dimensions
These measurements were made by forest ecologist Andy MacKinnon on behalf of the Ancient Forest Alliance and University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...
on 18 April 2014. The results were published the following week on 24 April 2014.
See also
* Boole - a giant sequoia whose immediate surroundings were also clearcut
* List of individual trees
References
External links
Drone footage of Big Lonely Doug, August 2016
{{Douglas firs
Individual Douglas firs
Individual trees in British Columbia
Juan de Fuca region