What is the oldest tree in Port Renfrew?
Port Renfrew's oldest mapped tree, tied with its neighbour, is Big Lonely Doug, a Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii) left standing alone in a 2012 clearcut on the Gordon Main logging road. It and the Red Creek Fir, an hour further out, are both estimated to have seeded around the year 1000, a broad, unmeasured figure neither source treats as a ring count.
Big Lonely Doug became famous by accident: logger Dennis Cronin marked it Leave Tree in 2011, and when the surrounding old growth came down in 2012, the 66-metre fir was left alone in the bare clearing, a photograph that made it a symbol of old-growth logging before it had a name. It ranks as Canada's second-largest known Douglas-fir by volume. The Red Creek Fir, about 45 minutes further east near the San Juan River, is the largest known Douglas-fir on Earth by volume, with a 13.3-metre girth and a scarred, forked crown showing it has lost its top to storms more than once. Both trees are free to visit on Crown land with no gate or permit, reached by rough, largely unmaintained logging roads that need a high-clearance vehicle, followed by a short trail on foot. Road conditions shift year to year with storm damage and active logging nearby, so check conditions before setting out. Neither tree has a documented ring count; both ages are stated here as a broad estimate rather than a measurement.
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