Mapping The Giant Sequoias Of Victoria, BC

This map is interactive - click on the tree icons and get more information about specific sequoias. View a larger version of the map here: "Giant Sequoias In Victoria".

The same mild climate that grows the fattest, tallest native trees in Canada, also nurtures some amazing exotic trees on south Vancouver Island. A case in point are the Giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum), many of which were transported here as seedlings over 100 years ago by settlers from California.

So loved were these California native trees that many made the journey north, and many were successfully planted. In just over a century some of these seedlings have reached, well, giant proportions.

The tallest and widest trees in Victoria are both sequoias which is not surprising considering this tree species is the largest in the world. Also not surprising is the fact that people are still loving these trees after 150 years of occupying their new home.

They are among the most photographed single trees in the area. My post on The Giant Sequoias Of Beacon Hill Park is the most viewed of all time on this blog. They are unique in this region and are far from their traditional range, making them of special interest.

The native range of the Giant sequoia is very restricted,
but they do grow successfully in Victoria, BC.

Giant sequoia occurs naturally only in California in a narrow band of mixed conifer forest, between 5,000-8,000 ft. elevation on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada. Climatically, the Giant sequoia prefers the "Cool Summer Mediterranean" (Csb) climate.

Giant sequoia in its natural California Sierra Nevada range.

Victoria has a Mediterranean climate, and although we are north of their northern limits, the sequoias have done well here.

This Giant sequoia at the residential intersection of Moss and Richardson is the
tallest sequoia in the Victoria area at about 50 meters tall.

I am in the process of mapping the sequoias in the Victoria area that I am familiar with from wandering about town. Many I have found simply by driving around and looking for the tallest trees on the horizon, then navigating to their base for photos. But there are always more trees to be found.

Lately I have been cruising around town using Google Maps instead of my truck to see if I can find more of these big trees. I figure that Google has the cash - let them pay for the gas. I can also get reasonable photos by taking screenshots while on Street View.

A large sequoia on Douglas Street across from Beacon Hill Park.

Using the above map one could set up a walking, cycling, rolling, or driving tour of interesting sequoias in the downtown area.

Not downtown? Chances are there is a Giant sequoia in a neighbourhood near you. Check the map.

This beauty is at the intersection of Jutland and Burnside Rds - I added it to the map
after a reader mentioned it in a comment below.

There is even a small sequoia down the street from where I live in Sooke. It is a mere baby only a few decades old and stands at a tiny 10m (30ft) in height. Eventually it could outlive civilization, and end up the tallest, fattest tree in the new coastal wilderness.

It is a treat to get a feel for the mighty California sequoia forests right here on the south island. If you can't make the 15 hour drive to the Sierra Nevada, this is the next best thing.

Do you know of a Victoria area sequoia that you don't see on the map? Please leave a comment below, like Bernard did, and describe the location of any notable sequoia that you know of. I would like to continue including new trees in this mapping project, and your participation can go a long way to filling in much needed information.

Thank you. Now go enjoy the trees, even if it is on Street View on the map above.

Beacon Hill Park Black Cottonwood Grove

Large buttressed trunk of an old Black cottonwood in Beacon Hill Park

There is a Black cottonwood (Populus balsamifera trichocarpa) grove in Beacon Hill Park that drew me in during a walk through the park this spring. The fragrance was strong even hundreds of meters away. Entranced, I followed my nose until I stood at the base of some very impressive, old trees that form a beautiful grove.


Some of the larger trees are buttressed at the base forming a broad trunk of deeply furrowed grey bark.

Furrowed, aged trunk

The grove is filled with long grass with wild flowers scattered through it. This area is wetter than others in the park, as the cottonwoods enjoy soils that are occasionally partially waterlogged.











Not only are these these trees large at the base, but they are very tall as well. The large canopies filter the light that reaches the grassy meadow below.

The grove's large trees are tall as well as fat

Another interesting feature is more difficult to see. Way up high in the canopy of one of these giant deciduous trees is an eagle nest. There is no such thing as a small eagle nest.

Eagle nest in one of the grove's cottonwoods, photo by Friends of Beacon Hill Park

Eagles are large birds, and their nests must be large to raise the young. Nests can often weigh over a ton. Such a home requires a large, sturdy tree. The cottonwoods provide such a scaffold for these majestic birds homes.

Wet, grassy area good for the thirsty cottonwoods

Getting There

Beacon Hill Park is conveniently located south of downtown Victoria. The Black cottonwood grove is south of Goodacre Lake along Douglas Street.


View Beacon Hill Park Black Cottonwood Grove in a larger map

Forest Creatures: Great Blue Herons

Endangered Great blue herons live in the coastal forest

It was on one of my hikes of Vancouver Island's West Coast Trail that I learned of an endangered species living in the coastal forest. Great Blue Herons, the largest North American herons, are year round residents. And they build their nests in trees.

We were hiking toward Nitinat Narrows when we first heard the primeval squawk of Great blue herons. As we approached, the noise was a discordant symphony of primitive vocalizations - it was the first heronry I had ever seen, or heard, and it was both chaotic and beautiful.

Heron chicks on the nest

It seems weird for these long-legged, large birds to be hanging out in the tops of tall trees. They seem more comfortable stalking prey in shallow water.

But for the part of the year when they are nesting, they make their large homes built of sticks at the tops of huge coastal trees.

Although herons are on the endangered species list, it would be hard to tell during a visit to the south island area. There are many herons around, including in my own neighbourhood. It is not uncommon to see up to 10 herons tolerating each other in rich, low tide seaweed beds of the Sooke River estuary. One can also find heron nesting sites in several locations, including one urban heronry in Beacon Hill Park in Victoria.

While herons are not social for most of the year, when it comes to breeding time, around March, these solitary birds come together in large groups. The Beacon Hill Park herons had established a large heronry in the 1980s, numbering up to 100 nests at its largest. It was a rare urban wildlife experience. Until 2007, when a resident bald eagle started to prey on the heron's nests.

Heron parents defending their nest from another Birdzilla attack in 2007, Beacon Hill Park

The eagle, nicknamed 'Birdzilla', quickly tore through the heronry, and within the course of a weekend had gone through 71 nests and consumed 39 chicks and 187 eggs. The herons, as herons will do when harassed by predators, bailed as a group, and abandoned their long-time nesting site. Some herons returned to the park in 2010 to establish new nests. Herons have been seen taking sticks from the old nests to build new ones.

Herons swallow food whole - some have been known to die in the attempt

Herons can be found in a range of habitats such as fresh and saltwater marshes, mangrove swamps, flooded meadows, lake edges, or shorelines, but are always found close to bodies of water. Their tree top nesting sites are usually always no more than a few kilometers from aquatic feeding grounds.

The primary food for Great blue herons is small fish, though it is also known to feed on a wide range of shrimp, crabs, aquatic insects, rodents and other small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and small birds.

Photo credit: all photos (except Beacon Hill eagle attack) from Wikipedia
Beacon Hill photo: Rhiannon Hamdi

The Giant Sequoias Of Beacon Hill Park

Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), possibly the largest tree species in the world, are to be found in several locations around Victoria, BC. These trees, native to California, were planted from imports brought to the region at the turn of the century. The tree shown above is in Beacon Hill Park.

Beacon Hill Park is designated a Heritage Tree site because of its extensive collection of beautiful native and non-native trees. Among the most visited and photographed is the tree highlighted here, located on Circle Drive. It was planted in 1913.

Sequoia are impressively large trees with distinctive reddish bark covering massive trunks that soar skywards without tapering significantly for much of their height. The bulbous broad canopy matches the girth of the trunk, and together they dominate the site in which they grow.

Other Giant sequoia in Beacon Hill Park stand near Park Way and on the north side of Goodacre Lake near the Stone Bridge.

The largest tree in the world by volume is a Giant sequoia called General Sherman in Sequoia National Park. There are some that believe that if logging hadn't decimated the Coast redwood forests of California, that the largest tree in the world by volume would most certainly be a redwood.

The Giant sequoia and Coast redwood may be vying for largest tree by volume, but it is one of Vancouver Island's native trees, the Douglas fir, that may have been the tallest trees of the ancient west coast forest. The best of them, over 122m/400 ft tall, are long gone, too.

The sequoia of Victoria are outstanding trees that are hard to miss. The Beacon Hill Park trees are worth visiting to get a taste of what the current world champion tree species is like.

The park is rich with tree life, from exotic species like the Giant sequoias to ancient examples of native varieties such as Garry oak.

If you feel like venturing farther in search of giant Giant sequoias in Victoria, check out what some claim is the primo sequoia in town. This monument to massive can be found at a residential address at the corner of Moss Street and Richardson in Fairfield, just east of downtown.

Photo credit: Norm Ringuette