The Nooksack Giant was a superlative Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii) that grew at Loop's Ranch (now Alpenglow Farm) in Maple Falls in Washington State. It was felled in early 1896 on the Alfred Bruce Loop Homestead with a crosscut saw by a team of men at the North Fork of the Nooksack river. [1] [2] [3] The tree was measured with a tape after felling at 465 feet (142 m) in length, 33 ft 11 in (10.3 m) in circumference, or nearly 11 ft (3.35 m) in diameter at the base, and measured 220 feet (67 m) to the first limb. Ring count showed this tree to be 480 years old. A cross section of the tree was displayed on the corner of Railroad Avenue and Holly Street, New Whatcom, (Now Bellingham) with a wooden placard nailed to it noting the particulars of the tree. Several photographs and photo engravings were taken of the tree's cross section while it was displayed for several years after its cutting, which are on file in the Whatcom County Museum, and in digitally archived news reports and lumber journals.
The height of 465 feet would make the Nooksack Giant easily the tallest tree ever reliably recorded on the planet. Anecdotal reports do exist of other Douglas fir and mountain ash trees reaching 400 to 500 feet (122 to 152 m), such as the 435 ft (133 m) "Ferguson Tree," a Eucalyptus regnans of the Watt's river, Australia in 1872, or the 415 ft (126 m) Lynn Valley Tree, a Douglas fir felled in 1902. They are often dismissed as unreliable; however, some are considered plausible and even well documented. One such example is the historic "Mineral Tree," a 393 ft (120 m) Douglas fir. [4]
The placard recorded that the Nooksack tree produced 96,345 board feet of the "finest quality" lumber. [5] The New York Times regarded the tree in a March 7, 1897 issue as the "most magnificent fir tree ever beheld by human eyes" and called its destruction a "truly pitiable tale" and a "crime". [5] [6] The Morning Times of February 28, 1897 claimed that the wood, sawed into one-inch strips, would reach from "Whatcom [the tree's location] to China". [7]
It is of some interest that an earlier timber cruise along the Nooksack river in 1891, 15 miles west of Loop's Ranch, by two Sumas lumbermen and surveyors, John M. Saar, and S. H. Soule, reported standing Douglas-fir trees measuring from 9 to 14 feet in diameter, estimated at 350 to 400 feet in height. [8] One grove in particular located within an eighth of a mile of the railroad tracks, along the Nooksack river, south of present Everson was noted, "in all reasonable probability, the finest group of fir trees west of the Cascade Mountains. The diameter of any individual member does not exceed nine feet, but the extreme height, estimated by good judges to be from 350 to 400 feet, the symmetry and perfection in every way is the admiration of those who have viewed them"..."On one acre it was estimated the fir timber would produce a half-million feet of lumber and half as much more of cedar. A single tree near the group rises perfectly straight from the ground, close barked and without a blemish, full two hundred feet or more to the first limb. Its diameter is nine feet, and its height possibly four hundred feet." [9]
Pseudotsuga is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae. Common names for species in the genus include Douglas fir, Douglas-fir, Douglas tree, Oregon pine and Bigcone spruce. Pseudotsuga menziesii is widespread in western North America and is an important source of timber. The number of species has long been debated, but two in western North America and two to four in eastern Asia are commonly acknowledged.
Sequoiadendron giganteum, also known as the giant sequoia, giant redwood, Sierra redwood or Wellingtonia is a coniferous tree, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae. Giant sequoia specimens are the most massive trees on Earth. They are native to the groves on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California but have been introduced, planted, and grown around the world.
The Douglas fir is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three varieties: coast Douglas-fir, Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir and Mexican Douglas-fir.
Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca, or Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir, is an evergreen conifer native to the interior mountainous regions of western North America, from central British Columbia and southwest Alberta in Canada southward through the United States to the far north of Mexico. The range is continuous in the northern Rocky Mountains south to eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, Idaho, western and south-central Montana and western Wyoming, but becomes discontinuous further south, confined to "sky islands" on the higher mountains in Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, with only very isolated small populations in eastern Nevada, westernmost Texas, and northern Mexico. It occurs from 600 m altitude in the north of the range, up to 3,000 m, rarely 3,200 m, in the south. Further west towards the Pacific coast, it is replaced by the related coast Douglas-fir, and to the south, it is replaced by Mexican Douglas-fir in high mountains as far south as Oaxaca. Some botanists have grouped Mexican Douglas-fir with P. menziesii var. glauca, but genetic and morphological evidence suggest that Mexican populations should be considered a different variety.
Humboldt Redwoods State Park is a state park of California, United States, containing Rockefeller Forest, the world's largest remaining contiguous old-growth forest of coast redwoods. It is located 30 miles (48 km) south of Eureka, California, near Weott in southern Humboldt County, within Northern California, named after the great German nineteenth-century scientist, Alexander von Humboldt. The park was established by the Save the Redwoods League in 1921 largely from lands purchased from the Pacific Lumber Company. Beginning with the dedication of the Raynal Bolling Memorial Grove, it has grown to become the third-largest park in the California State Park system, now containing 51,651 acres (20,902 ha) through acquisitions and gifts to the state.
Abies grandis is a fir native to northwestern North America, occurring at altitudes of sea level to 1,700 metres (5,600 ft). It is a major constituent of the Grand Fir/Douglas Fir Ecoregion of the Cascade Range.
Abies concolor, the white fir, concolor fir, or Colorado fir, is a coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. This tree is native to the mountains of western North America, including the Sierra Nevada and southern Rocky Mountains, and into the isolated mountain ranges of southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Northern Mexico. It naturally occurs at elevations between 900 and 3,400 metres.
Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest is a state forest in Lake County, California that covers the northwest of Boggs Mountain. It was founded in 1949, and came into operation in 1950 when most of the site had been clear cut. The purpose was to demonstrate good practices in restoring and managing a forest. The state forest was open for recreational use, including camping, hiking, mountain biking etc. The 2015 Valley Fire destroyed 80% of the trees. The state forest as of 2021 was replanting saplings.
Sequoia sempervirens is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae. Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood and California redwood. It is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1,200–2,200 years or more. This species includes the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to 115.9 m (380.1 ft) in height and up to 8.9 m (29 ft) in diameter at breast height. These trees are also among the longest-living trees on Earth. Before commercial logging and clearing began by the 1850s, this massive tree occurred naturally in an estimated 810,000 ha along much of coastal California and the southwestern corner of coastal Oregon within the United States. Being the tallest tree species, with a small range and an extremely long lifespan, many redwoods are preserved in various state and national parks; many of the largest specimens have their own official names.
The Lindsay Creek Tree was a notably large coast redwood that grew in Fieldbrook, California, along the Lindsay Creek, which feeds into the Mad River. It was once thought to be the largest single-stem organism (tree) known to have existed historically due to erroneous article published in the Humboldt Times. In 2024, a second article was discovered that offered more accurate measurements of the tree. Although the tree was not as large as it was fabled to be, it would still likely rank within the top 5 largest coast redwoods alive today.
Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii, commonly known as Coast Douglas-fir, Pacific Douglas-fir, Oregon pine, or Douglas spruce, is an evergreen conifer native to western North America from west-central British Columbia, Canada southward to central California, United States. In Oregon and Washington its range is continuous from the Cascades crest west to the Pacific Coast Ranges and Pacific Ocean. In California, it is found in the Klamath and California Coast Ranges as far south as the Santa Lucia Mountains with a small stand as far south as the Purisima Hills, Santa Barbara County. In the Sierra Nevada it ranges as far south as the Yosemite region. It occurs from near sea level along the coast to 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) in the California Mountains. Further inland, coast Douglas-fir is replaced by Rocky Mountain or interior Douglas-fir. Interior Douglas-fir intergrades with coast Douglas-fir in the Cascades of northern Washington and southern British Columbia.
Bull Creek is the largest Eel River tributary drainage basin preserved within Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The basin contains the world's largest remaining contiguous old-growth forest of coast redwoods. Bull Creek flows in a clockwise semi-circle around 3,373-foot (1,028-meter) Grasshopper Mountain to enter the South Fork Eel River approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) upstream of the South Fork confluence with the Eel River.
The Red Creek Fir is a large Douglas fir tree located in the San Juan Valley of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. By volume, it is the largest known Douglas fir tree on Earth.
O.O. Denny Park is a 46-acre (19 ha) park on the northeast shore of Lake Washington that is managed by the city of Kirkland, Washington but is owned by the city of Seattle. It has approximately 0.25 miles (400 m) of Lake Washington shoreline, and some park amenities such as BBQ grills and a covered structure at the shore, with mostly unimproved forest above the lake, surrounding Denny Creek.
The Doerner Fir, also known as the Brummitt Fir, is a record-setting Coast Douglas-fir in Oregon, is one of the tallest known trees in the world which is not a redwood (Sequoioideae), at 327 feet (99.7 m).
The Queets Fir is a superlative Douglas fir about 2.5 miles from the Queets River Trail trailhead, on Coal Creek, a tributary of Queets River in the Olympic National Park in Washington State. It was known for fifty years, beginning in 1945, as the largest known fir by volume, and is still largest known in diameter. It has a height of at least 200 feet (61 m), circumference 600 inches (15,000 mm), and spread of 71 feet (22 m). It was listed as national co-champion Douglas fir by American Forests, and one of only a handful of "undisputed megatrees" in North America with over 800 points.
The Lynn Valley Tree was one of the tallest known Coast Douglas-fir, at a measured height of 126.5 meters (415 ft). It was cut down by the Tremblay Brothers, at Argyle Road in 1902 on the property of Alfred John Nye in Lynn Valley, now part of metropolitan Vancouver, B.C. In 1912, Alfred Nye told historian Walter Mackay Draycott that the tree had first drawn his attention because of its vast columnar bole, and that it towered above the neighboring forest. After it was felled, Nye told Draycott he had measured its length at 125 meters (410 ft), with a remaining stump height of 1.52 meters where its diameter was 4.34 meters (14.2 ft) across the butt, and the bark was 13.5 inches (34 cm) thick. Since that time, in the lower valley where the tree grew, the entire old-growth forest has been logged, including a nearby 4.24 meters (13.9 ft) diameter fir tree that contained 1,280 rings, and another fir tree felled in the same valley that was said to have measured 107.3 m (352 ft) tall.
Goat Marsh Research Natural Area is a 1,195 acres research natural area located southwest of Mount St. Helens and within Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. The natural area is composed of wetlands, young conifer forests growing in volcanic soils, and old-growth stands of superlative Noble Fir and Douglas Fir.