Ancient tree discovered on Vancouver Island

I spent nearly the last 15 years exploring and documenting endangered old growth forests in British Columbia. What better way to fully experience the scope of a tree you discovered than to climate? This was a tree that myself and my friend Ian came across while exploring in the valley on the hunt for giant trees. OK, three. 2/1. Using a giant slingshot to hurl a rope across its upper limbs, Big tree hunter TJ Watt and a team of professional climbers ascended this Carmena Valley Sitka spruce in the fall of 22. These are the first images we’ve seen of the client. BC’s Ancient Sitka’s are some of the largest living things on Earth, and this one, four meters wide at its base and 71 meters tall, makes it the 4th largest on record in BC. It’s like entering into a living skyscraper and you’re seeing a world that few, if any humans ever get to see. At the top, the climbers found a centuries old ecosystem of suspended soils and the plants they support, part of the biosphere where scientists are still finding entirely new species. These are truly hidden realms that deserve more research, more investigation, and more appreciation. That giant Sitka is part of a fragment of what remains of B CS coastal ancient forests, 90% of which has been cut down since industrial clear cutting began. While it’s in the protected Carnana Valley, much of what else remains on Vancouver Island is unprotected, which is part of Watts motivation to keep on finding and sometimes climbing. The last of BC’s giants, the old girl temperate rainforests of British Columbia, are almost second to none on earth in terms of their beauty and grandeur. Paul Johnson, Global News.