Canada's New Largest Sitka Spruce - The San Jo's Smiley Tree

After the San Juan Sitka Spruce near Port Renfrew lost its top in 2016 due to a lightning strike, it lost enough volume to be demoted from its previous status as Canada's largest sitka spruce.

So what is the largest Sitka spruce in the country now? 

According to BC's Big Tree Registry, the San Jo's Smiley tree found on northern Vancouver Island is now the largest sitka spruce in Canada.

The Smiley Sitka is measured at 4.36 meters in diameter, and 77.8 m tall. The girth of the tree, measured at a height of 1.30 m, is a whopping 13.69 m.

This is what bctreehunter21 on Instagram had to say about this special tree:

"San Jo's Smiley, an exceptional Sitka spruce near Vancouver Island's Cape Scott, exceeds all expectations. While the tree's diameter of 4.36 metres is very impressive, it's the entirety of its mass that is most significant. The lack of taper is unique, and even 20 metres up its 77 metre trunk, the width looks to be close to 2.50 metres!" 

It is, however, much harder to access than the San Juan Spruce. 

The Ancient Forest Alliance, in announcing and celebrating the new champ on September 27, 2023, says it is "located near the San Josef River outside of Holberg in Quatsino territory." 

While isolated in an area that few venture into, it is still well worth the trip, I am convinced. 

If you are on northern Vancouver Island in the Cape Scott region, and are feeling adventurous, definitely search out this amazing tree survivor.

These massive remnant trees are worth infinitely more standing than laying on the ground to be chopped and hacked and insulted by petty, temporary human desires. 

Cutting down trees that can live over a thousand years? When they are some of the last big trees of their type in the world?

How rude.

So it is incredible that trees, including the San Jo's Smiley Tree, still exist.

We are keeping it that way. BC and interested parties are ensuring that we are moving forward on big tree and forest protection.

That is great, because there are many more BC trees/forests worthy of protection that are currently at risk of being laid down.

The San Jo's Smiley tree, Canada's new largest Sitka Spruce, is one of the at risk trees.

It has no legal protection.

400 + Foot Douglas Fir Trees More Than Mythical

Some articles you read on historical big trees in Cascadia's region talk about the biggest of the big (the +400 footers) in mythical terms, as if they were no more than loggers tall tales. 

But big tree people know differently - the huge Douglas fir trees existed. What a shame that they don't any more. As far as we currently know...

The Man Who Saved Big Lonely Doug

Dennis Cronin standing in front of the giant tree he saved.
Photo credit: Lorraine Cronin

In 2014, just as I was moving from Vancouver Island, BC to Nova Scotia, the tree which has become to be known as Big Lonely Doug was discovered by big tree protectors in a former stand of old growth not far from Port Renfrew. 

The giant Douglas fir tree was not hard to find - it was the only tree left in a clear cut block that used to be an ancient grove, and it was hard to miss.

As it turns out, the tree still stands due to the efforts of Mr. Cronin, an industry engineer, that may have been the first person to ever see it. 

To read the fascinating story of how this amazing specimen, the second largest fir in Canada, was saved, click here.

The only Douglas fir tree larger is the Red Creek Fir. This is another significant tree that was also destined for destruction, but was preserved by a logging crew that could not bring themselves to cut such a gigantic tree down.

There goes the neighbourhood.
This is why Big Lonely Doug is so lonely. 
But, better lonely than dead.
Photo credit: TJ Watt

I have never seen the tree that Dennis Cronin, who after decades in the woods and marking untold numbers of giant Pacific Forest trees for removal, decided to save. But the next time I am in Canada's big tree country again, I will.

And when I do, I will think about the man who chose to save Big Lonely Doug, one of the tallest trees (70.2 metres, 230 ft - the height of an 21 story building) he had ever seen, and I will give thanks for his decision.

On a final note, Mr. Cronin died shortly after retiring from his forestry job. By that time he could see that the end of the big trees had come. 

Perhaps his signature tree was one small (or big, depending on how you look at it) way of making amends.



Click here to see the Ancient Forest Alliance Big Trees Map "created with driving directions to Avatar Grove (home to Canada’s “Gnarliest Tree”), Big Lonely Doug (Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir), the Red Creek Fir (the world’s largest Douglas-fir tree), San Juan Spruce (one of Canada’s largest spruce trees), Harris Creek Spruce (another giant sitka spruce), and more!"

Canada's 2nd Biggest Douglas-fir Tree Identified in Recent Clear Cut

Big Lonely Doug, the second largest known Douglas-fir tree in Canada.
Photo by TJ Watt

The second largest known Douglas-fir tree in Canada was recently discovered by big tree defenders on Vancouver Island. Named "Big Lonely Doug" by the Ancient Forest Alliance members that found it, this magnificent tree has been left stranded in the middle of a 2012 clear cut by forest liquidators Teal-Jones.

But don't be distressed by the sad scenes depicted in TJ Watt's amazing photos of this notable tree that had a close brush with death in 2012, or its surroundings. Teal-Jones, the logging company that share the responsibility for this tragic mess with negligent MLAs in the BC Liberal Party, assure us on their website that

"There is virtually no waste in manufacturing wood products".

Thank goodness people like those at Ancient Forest Alliance are out doing the work in the woods to try and stop the waste, not to mention the extinction of the primal forests that remain on Vancouver Island.

If you want to help them help us, please consider donating to this worthy organization of hard-working big tree campaigners.

12 meters (39 feet) in circumference or 4 meters (13 feet) in diameter, and 69 meters(226 feet) tall.
Photo by TJ Watt

The following information is from the AFA Facebook page:

Port Renfrew - Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance have found and measured what appears to be Canada’s second largest recorded Douglas-fir tree, nick-named “Big Lonely Doug”, standing by itself in an area clearcut in 2012. 

Preliminary measurements of the tree taken yesterday found it to be about 12 meters (39 feet) in circumference or 4 meters (13 feet) in diameter, and 69 meters(226 feet) tall. Big Lonely Doug is estimated to be about 1000 years old, judging by nearby 8 feet wide Douglas-fir stumps in the same clearcut with growth rings of 500-600 years. 

Big Lonely Doug’s total size comes in just behind the current champion Douglas-fir, the Red Creek Fir, the world’s largest, which grows just one valley over. 

Big Lonely Doug grows in the Gordon River Valley near the coastal town of Port Renfrew on southern Vancouver Island, known as the “Tall Trees Capital” of Canada. It stands on Crown lands in Tree Farm Licence 46 held by the logging company Teal-Jones, in the unceded traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band. 

The fact that all of the surrounding old-growth trees have been clearcut around such a globally exceptional tree, putting it at risk of being damaged or blown down by wind storms, underscores the urgency for new provincial laws to protect BC’s largest trees, monumental groves, and endangered old-growth ecosystems. 

The days of colossal trees like these are quickly coming to an end as the timber industry cherry-picks the last unprotected, valley-bottom, lower elevation ancient stands in southern BC where giants like this grow.

It will take a thousand years or more to replace this clear cut old growth forest.
Photo by TJ Watt

Vancouver Observer - Canada's 2nd Largest Douglas-fir Found: "The vast majority of BC's remaining old-growth forests are at higher elevations, on rocky sites, and in bogs where the trees are much smaller and in many cases have low to no commercial value. 

It's the valley-bottom, low elevation stands where trees like the Big Lonely Doug grow that are incredibly scarce now. 99 per cent of the old-growth Douglas-fir trees on BC's coast have already been logged. 

It's time for the BC government to stop being more enthusiastic about big stumps than big trees, and for them to enact forest policies that protect our last endangered ancient forest ecosystems." 

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/canadas-second-largest-douglas-fir-discovered

While trees are a renewable resource, with current logging practices and regulations,
 forests older than about 80 years are not. 
Photo by TJ Watt

"...while trees are harvested the effects are only short term as reforestation follows."

- from the Teal-Jones logging company website, that fails to realize that the destruction of thousand year old trees is not a "short term effect".

Witness to the on-going destruction of our ancient forests, with Canada's
 second largest known Douglas-fir in the background. What a magnificent, lonely tree…
Photo by TJ Watt

Douglas-fir: Tallest Tree In The World?

Hyperion, Coast Redwood: tallest known living tree, M. Vaden

The heights of the tallest trees in the world, presently and historically, have been hotly contested ever since people started estimating and measuring the tallest living things. In the pursuit of records tree heights have been exaggerated - tall tales, mythical and legendary stories emerge from the great forests. So what are the tallest trees on the planet?

The Current Top Three Tallest Trees On Earth

The following are now accepted as the top three tallest measured species (currently standing specimens):

1. Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens): 115.56 m (379.1 ft), Redwood National Park, California, United States
2. Australian Mountain-ash (Eucalyptus regnans): 99.6 m (327 ft), south of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
3. Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii): 99.4 m (326 ft), Brummit Creek, Coos County, Oregon, United States - from Wikipedia

Climbers in the Brummit Fir, world's tallest Douglas-fir, described by some as 335 feet tall, which would make it the second tallest known tree, not the third

How Tall Can Douglas-fir Get?

Although a Coast redwood is presently the tallest tree found to date, there is evidence that the coastal Douglas-fir has the biological capacity to surpass the redwoods in stratospheric height. Once trees reach the limit beyond which water can no longer be pumped to the top, the leader experiences 'drought stress' and dies off.

"In 2008, a study proposed that the maximum height for a Doug­las fir -- one of the world's tallest trees -- is about 453 feet (138 meters)." [source]

A Douglas-fir is the third tallest tree in the world (or second, depending on other accounts), and some believe a Douglas-fir could be, or once was, the tallest. Upper height limit estimates for the species go as high as 476 ft, and before logging began in the 19th and 20th centuries, plus 400 foot trees were probably fairly common.

Historical Accounts Of 400 Foot Douglas-fir

Some accounts of the tallest of the tall may be loggers' tales, but others are documented measurements.

In a post I did here I discussed 400 ft plus Douglas-fir trees. An informed reader posted a couple of comments in response. They contain information regarding the historical heights once attained by the king of the Pacific Coast Forest, the Douglas-fir.

See comments below photo.

Industrial logging has removed most of the tallest Douglas-fir, historical photo, Washington

Reader Comments Regarding Tall Douglas-fir

"A Douglas fir measured 415 feet high, (127 meters) in 1902 at the Alfred John Nye property in Lynn Valley. Diameter was 14 ft 3 inches 5 feet from the ground.


A 352 footer was felled in 1907 in Lynn Valley. Diameter was 10 feet.


In 1897 a 465 foot (142 m) Douglas fir was felled in Whatcom, Washington on the Alfred Loop ranch near MT. Baker. Diameter was 11 feet, and 220 feet to first branch. Board footage was 96,345 feet of top quality lumber.


A 400 footer was felled in 1896 at Kerrisdale, BC, sent to Hastings mill. J. M. Fromme measured the giant at 13 ft 8 in diameter.


Records of even taller fir trees exist, but I am in the process of collecting a complete and up to date list of old champions long forgotten."

And a follow-up comment:

"They measured a Redwood tree near the Oregon border in 2006, it is 115.6 m tall above average ground level, but to the lowest end of the trunk it's about 117.6 m total height.


Michael Taylor, Chris Atkins, and Mario Vaden, are the top guys searching the forests for new tallest tree species. They just located last week a new record Douglas fir west of Roseberg, Oregon it is 98.3 meters tall, live growing top. They're hoping to find a monster fir over 100 meters, and I think they will. Thousands of hectares of Oregon forest is relatively unexplored.


But sadly, over 90% of the really big old growth has been cut down in the North West, so finding a 120 meter fir is unlikely -- Not impossible though.


I posted the list in a wikipedia talk section, titled, "Historically Reported Douglas-Fir Exceeding 300 and 400 Feet." I also made a couple experimental Youtube videos dealing with the super tall reports, the 400 foot and up class." 

Is it possible that the Coast redwood is not the tallest tree species on earth?

400 Foot Coastal Douglas-fir Giants Gone, But Big Trees Remain

Giant Douglas-fir trees in Cathedral Grove, Vancouver Island

The east coast of Vancouver Island, along with the Gulf Islands lie in the Dry Coastal Douglas-fir ecozone. Because of the rain shadow created by Washington's Olympic Range, and the Vancouver Island Range, this area is much dryer than the rest of the coast. This creates prime conditions for growing a tree among the tallest trees on Earth - the Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii).




Vancouver Island sports the largest Douglas-fir in the world. The Red Creek Fir, near Port Renfrew, is a massive 800 year old tree with a 12.5 meter (41 foot) circumference. The top is  broken off, and the tree is currently about 74 meters (242 feet) tall.


One of the most accessible places to see large Douglas-fir is in Cathedral Grove, on the highway between Port Alberni and Pacific Rim National Park.


Cathedral Grove contains a fine stand of sky scraping trees, including one Douglas-fir that soars to 70 meters (230 feet) with a 10 meter (33 foot) circumference. It is the second biggest Douglas-fir in Canada.



The Nimpkish River Valley is 200 km north of Victoria. An Ecological Reserve was established here in 1988 to protect a small patch of a formerly spectacular, and ancient Douglas-fir forest. The tallest trees in the reserve grow to 84 meters (275 feet) and up to 2.5 meters (8 feet) in diameter.

Nimpkish Valley, Vancouver Island

Historically, Douglas-fir reached such spectacular heights that today it is hard to believe. Indeed, there have been people interviewed who personally witnessed Douglas-fir over 122 meters (400 feet) tall, including one near present day Vancouver that was measured after it was cut down.

Imagine a tree as high, or higher, than a 40 floor building. Of 42 buildings in Vancouver that are taller than 30 floors, only fifteen are taller than 40. The original forest would cover all of downtown - only these 15 buildings would poke up out of the trees.

Such incredible trees do not exist any more (that we know of), and may never exist again. These big trees have been the primary target of logging interests over the past 150 years. The unbroken extensive forests, and the 122 meter (400 foot) plus trees are now part of the tragic history of deforestation in this globally unique ecosystem. But large, tall, old, and impressive Douglas-fir persist in places.

Currently the tallest Douglas-fir in the world is not on Vancouver Island, or in Canada. The champion tree can be found in Coos County, Oregon. It is just over 100 meters (325 feet) tall, and can be seen 56 km (35 miles) southeast of Coos Bay in the Sitkum area.

Big Tree Art

Drawing by Robert Van Pelt

Robert Van Pelt's book Forest Giants of the Pacific Coast is one of my favorite big tree books. The author has a unique passion for trees, and a talent for not only finding record-breakers, but also carefully measuring and accurately rendering them.

His painstaking depictions separate the champion trees from the forest, and each has its own unique and special character. I also like the depiction of the tiny humans at the base of Van Pelt's drawings to give the giants a scale we can relate to. You can see how massive these ancient trees are.

Van Pelt's work inspired us to take a look at some of our own tree-related art.

photo: Linda Hughes, Photons In The Forest

Linda has a knack for taking interesting abstract photos with our point and shoot digital camera. This one was taken in the Royal Roads forest in Colwood. She says it is an accurate depiction of the sense she feels while in the forest and around ancient trees.









This is a pen and ink drawing of a favourite local tree that has been leaning out over Sooke Harbour for a hundred years or more.


 The Leaning Tree, Gregg Koep

Leaning Tree and Hummingbird, Linda Hughes
This is the same tree, also in pen and ink.

Up The Sooke River, Gregg Koep

This pencil sketch depicts the Sooke Hills and the Highway 14 bridge crossing the Sooke River, as seen from the harbour.

Coastal Conifer, Gregg Koep

Yes, I am obsessed with trees - I can't even prepare a meal without being sidetracked by their allure and beauty. This piece almost made itself as I stood at the counter. The two dimensional sculpture is made from: Garbanzo beans for the tree, and dried kidney bean pods for the ground.

B.C.'s Biggest Trees Not Protected

British Columbia holds record breaking trees, both in the books, and out in the forest waiting to be discovered. In order to increase awareness and protection of these tree Titans and old growth areas, Randy Stoltmann single-handedly started B.C.'s Big Tree Registry in the 1980's.

Modeled after registries in eastern Canada and the U.S., it has grown from just 18 trees of 13 species, to 190 trees of 37 species in 2006. With Stoltmann's death in 1994 the Big Tree Registry passed through a variety of homes, and now is hosted by the provincial government in the Ministry of Forests and Range.

The B.C. Big Tree Registry records the 10 biggest trees for each species, but affords the outstanding listed trees no protection. The Victoria chapter of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee is recommending that the registry list the 100 biggest trees of each species, as well as legislating protection for them.

It seems unlikely that someone would cut down a record-breaking tree, and that is probably what Forests Minister Pat Bell meant when he said that big trees on the registry are not usually harvested. He added that he is not contemplating any changes to the registry or to old growth logging practices in the province.

Robert Van Pelt, author of Forest Giants of the Pacific Coast, insists that ancient giants still exist in little explored areas of our province. Particularily, he fingers Vancouver Island as a potential source of record-breaking sized trees yet to be found. Record-breakers usually gain some notoriety (the registries intended purpose) that gives them unofficial protection-like status. These valuable resources deserve full protection.

And what of Van Pelt's potential record-breaking trees yet to be discovered? Will we ever know about them, let alone protect them, before they become big stumps? WCWC has ample evidence that trees exactly like the ones we worship in our parks are being logged. Is there a record-breaking stump out there?


Let's protect these magnificent trees and remaining ancient groves. Let's do it for all those forward-thinking timber workers that have identified significant trees and groves in the forest and saved them. Or for the Red-backed vole that lives its life in single giant Douglas firs, like the Red Creek Fir (itself a Big Tree Registry champion). Let's do it for Randy Stoltmann.