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B.C.’s Big Trees Are Now Tracked In UBC’s Online Database (PHOTOS)

Sep 30 2014/in News Coverage

Here in B.C. we have an abundance of large, gorgeous trees.

But some are so big and beautiful that we can't get them out of our heads (who could forget Big Lonely Doug?). For those, the University of British Columbia has relaunched the BC Big Tree Registry.

Newly acquired by the university's Faculty of Forestry, the database keeps track of our province's biggest and brightest trees. The registry is now online so that people can use interactive maps to search for big trees in their areas. Users can also nominate big trees for verification by an expert.

B.C. is home to 50 different tree species, according to Sally Aitken, a UBC professor of forest and conservation sciences.

Big trees “are the largest organisms that we can see, touch and feel,” she said in a UBC interview. “We have trees that were around before our parents or great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents were born. These massive and beautiful organisms represent a biological legacy.”

So if you ever needed an excuse to explore more of this great province of ours, here it is. Give the trees a hug for us!

BC.’s biggest trees can now be found online

Sep 29 2014/in News Coverage

Ever walked through a forest in B.C. and encountered a giant tree that left you awestruck?

The University of B.C.’s Faculty of Forestry is looking for help from the public to help identify the largest trees of each species in B.C.

The faculty has revamped its B.C. Big Tree registry for people to nominate their favorite majestic giant tree.

All you have to do is record the location and measure the tree trunk circumference, height — there are mobile phone apps that allow you to use a smartphone as an ‘inclinometer’ to measure the height of a tree — the location (GPS coordinates) and a photo of the tree.

A tree expert will verify whether the tree is the largest of its kind in the province or is just a spectacular example of its species.

The registry helps conserve big trees in B.C. and educates citizens about the giants living among us.

“We think the biggest ones haven’t been found yet,” explained Sally Aitken, a UBC professor of forest and conservation sciences.

“If we want to conserve them, we have to find them and identify them,” she said Thursday.

What makes big trees so special is that they are living legacies of ancient forests, Aitken said.

The oldest have been standing for up to 1,800 years, she said.

“They are the biggest living organisms we can feel, touch and even hug if we want to. They are a biological legacy of the past.”

Aitken said our coastal rainforests have some enormous Douglas-fir, western redcedar, and Sitka spruce trees, including some of the world’s largest specimens, mainly because of the climate conditions: mild year-round temperatures and lots of rainfall.

The province is home to 50 different tree species, including the largest trees in Canada and almost as large as the biggest trees in the world — the redwoods of California.

Aitken said the original B.C. Big Tree registry was started in the 1980s by outdoorsman Randy Stoltmann, who died in a mountaineering accident in 1994.

Until recently, the registry was on paper, contained in cardboard boxes. The UBC forestry department now has transformed it into an online resource, making it easy for the public to access and nominate trees for consideration.

It also allows people to use interactive maps to locate the largest, oldest trees near their homes, which UBC forestry is encouraging people to do as part of National Forest Week.

For more info, go to the B.C. Big Tree Registry website.

Below is a video of Canada’s second largest tree found last spring near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. It’s known as Big Lonely Doug because the 70-metre tall Douglas-fir is located in a clearcut.

Read more and view PHOTOS and VIDEO at: https://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/1166538/b-c-s-biggest-trees-can-now-be-found-online/

Help needed to ID monster trees

Sep 29 2014/in News Coverage

The University of B.C. recently took on the task of turning “several bankers’ boxes of paper and physical photos” on the province’s largest trees into a usable online database — and they want the public to add to it.

The idea is that if we know where British Columbia’s largest trees are, they can be protected and studied, according to UBC forests and conservation prof. Sally Aitken.

“Those big trees really represents a biological legacy from the past. We want to maintain that legacy,” she said.

“We don’t know how these trees are going to react to climate change, to the new environment they find themselves in — if we know where they are now, it gives us a basis to monitor them.”

B.C., Aitken said, is home to some of the largest trees in the world. And despite how the existing paper-based records go back to 1986 and already contain 300 of the province’s most enormous trees, new discoveries are still regularly found.

“In the last month, we have found the third-biggest Sitka spruce in the province. In the spring, the tree that got quite a bit of press — called Big Lonely Doug — was found. It’s near Port Renfrew, it’s the second largest Douglas fir.”

Even for the existing trees in the registry, much of the data is incomplete. Many of the old records didn’t come with exact GPS co-ordinates or even directions to how to find the trees.

Technology now, however, means anyone with a smart phone can track their GPS co-ordinates and also measure the height of trees using a simple “clinometer” app that uses distance and angles to complete the measurements.

The tree registry can be found online at bigtrees.forestry.ubc.ca.

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2025 Activity Report & Financials

Apr 30 2026

2025 was a milestone year for the Ancient Forest Alliance and the old-growth campaign. Despite the BC government's backsliding on many of its old-growth commitments, there was still much work to be proud of, including celebrating our 15th year working to protect ancient forests. Check out our 2025 Activity Report & Financials to see the impact YOU made on 2025, plus, find out what we have in store for 2026!

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