Only 34 per cent of the world’s surviving forests are old-growth ones, and many are under threat. If California’s Redwood National Park is anything to go by, there is hope, however.
This is a tree that demands attention. Thrusting 70 metres into the sky – about the height of a 20-storey building – the towering Douglas fir has a diameter of almost four metres. That sort of girth doesn’t develop overnight: this specimen has been sinking its roots into the rich earth of Canada’s Vancouver Island for around 1000 years.
There is another reason this tree stands out. It stands alone.
