alt Hacker NewsThe largest tree on record is rejected in part because it's over the theoretical limit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nooksack_Giant
Too bad we cut it down, along with almost every other giant Douglas-fir.
Replies
hinkley • today at 12:14 AM
There are stories that the moss on trees in temperate rainforests allow the tree to pull water from their branches instead of the ground, increasing their max height.
For a while there were people poaching the moss that facilitated this, which is a problem because it grows only inches per year.
➕ show 1 reply
seabrookmx • today at 6:19 AM
I just visited this beauty[1] a few weeks ago. Not 400ft tall, but over half that and over 13ft round at the base!
We're lucky to have a handful of big Doug Firs, Sitka Spruce, and Western Red Cedars left on Vancouver Island.
Human barbarism is not new...
"The placard recorded that the Nooksack tree produced 96,345 board feet (227.348 cubic meters) of the "finest quality" lumber.
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".
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"."