Every now and then a photograph surfaces (thank you Facebook) that makes us stop and look back.
This photo is from 1958, a giant Douglas Fir tree felled in Copper Canyon on Vancouver Island. It was shipped back to England and shaped into a flag pole at Kew Gardens, the fourth to stand on that site (the lifetime of a wooden pole at Kew is around 50 years, it seems)
It was presented by British Columbia to commemorate the centenary of the province in 1958, and the bicentenary of Kew Gardens in 1959. It was erected by the 23rd Field Squadron of the Royal Engineers, and entered into the Guinness Book of Records in 1959 as the tallest in the world at 225 feet (68.58 metres).
Since then time and weather have taken their toll and it has been shortened several times -- until it measured 200 ft. (61 metres).
In August, 2007, it had to be taken down -- with a giant crane, nerves of steel and good heads for heights. Why? Well, weather damage in part, and (wait for it) WOODPECKERS had caused enough damage that the pole was no longer safe to remain standing.
We will never see trees of this size again. The photos are astonishing now. As the forests must have been astonishing then. It is so important to preserve what we still have, what remains of the ancient forests, more than we even know.
It really was enormous!
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