Pet tree homicide
Here's an interview with John Vaillant, author of The Golden Spruce, about the logger-turned-activist-with-a-death-wish who cut down Haida Gwaii's rarest tree, an albino spruce with golden needles. I devoured the advance reading copy early this spring during commutes to work aboard the Intrepid. Half the crew ripped through it after I was done. I wonder if the author ever imagined an audience of tree planters sitting around in dirty Stanfields and wet track pants turning pages through archipelagic weavings and mild chop. It now sits on my shelf, tattered, dirty, repaired with multiple strips of duct tape. Love that book. With the exception of certain pronouncements about tree planting as monocultural tree farming. I'm no silvicultural expert, but I've never seen a coastal cut block with only one species of tree growing on it. I've seen a lot of clear cuts, too. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't through the glass of my car window as I was whizzing down the highway. Here's one thing I've never seen: the Golden Spruce itself, after two pre-mortem visits to the Queen Charlottes. Dang.
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