Big Lonely Doug facts for kids

Big Lonely Doug is a very large Coast Douglas-fir tree. It grows in the Gordon River Valley on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. This amazing tree is the second largest Douglas-fir tree in Canada. Only the Red Creek Fir in the nearby San Juan Valley is bigger.

History of Big Lonely Doug

This giant tree started growing around the year 1000 CE. That means it is over 1,000 years old!

In 2011, a logger named Dennis Cronin found the huge tree. He was looking at a part of the forest that was going to be cut down for wood. Logging means cutting down trees for timber. He put a ribbon around the tree. On the ribbon, he wrote "Leave Tree." This saved Big Lonely Doug from being cut down.

In 2014, a photographer and activist named T.J. Watt saw the tree. He named it "Big Lonely Doug." The name is a fun way to say "Douglas-fir." It also shows how lonely the tree looked. It stood alone in an area where all other trees had been cut down. This type of tree cutting is called a clearcut. Since then, Big Lonely Doug has become a symbol. It reminds people about the importance of protecting nature in Canada.

How Big Is Big Lonely Doug?

Forest expert Andy MacKinnon measured Big Lonely Doug. He did this for the Ancient Forest Alliance and the University of British Columbia. The measurements were taken on April 18, 2014. The results were shared a week later.