 |
|
|
|
Reviewed by Emily Mathieson In 1997, Grant Hadwin, a former logger on Canada’s West Coast, stole into the night and cut down a tree. This tree stood sixteen stories tall and seven feet in diameter. Growing on British Columbia’s Queen Charlotte Islands, it was surrounded by trees of a similar size. What distinguished it was its colour, an almost impossible shade. The tree was gold. John Vaillant’s debut book, The Golden Spruce, tells the story of this rash act, of the man, and of the tree.
Usually, a golden tree is either dead or dying. This tree was in good health, and was thus the stuff of legend. Even before scientists gave it its own unique Latin name, the Haida people had named it, calling it Kiiid Kiiyaas, and as the story went - it had once been a human. Vaillant likens scientific explanations for the tree to ‘parlour games’, no one knows the answer. Likewise, no one knows what has happened to Grant Hadwin, except that he disappeared shortly after he had felled the tree. Vaillant situates Hadwin as a protestor, albeit a desperate one. Due to rapid expansion, much of British Columbia’s wild was deforested in a very short period of time. With techniques like the ‘slash-and-burn’, millions of acres of old-growth forest were destroyed, leaving smoldering mountainsides of gray and black. It is with this massive destruction in mind that Hadwin scoffed at the efforts to preserve a lone tree. More than most people, he would have been struck by the contrast between the vestigial grove containing the town mascot and the free-range saw log farm that surrounded it. To a person who knew the woods as well as Hadwin, it would have been as insulting and ludicrous as an albino buffalo on a putting green. Where were all its healthy counterparts? Headed south on the Haida Brave. Vaillant’s tale emerges as a lament for the lost wild. Intertwined with the story of the man and his act is a sweeping history of British Columbia’s forestry industry. Vaillant weaves an expansive web. At times, in his efforts to include detail, the story is perhaps too expansive. Vaillant tries very hard to convey not only Hadwin and the industry, but also the environment itself. This is a book to digest. Vaillant gives the reader much to consider. British Columbia’s coast is awe-inspiring, and Vaillant offers descriptions of the Hecate Strait and old-growth forests that linger and beg deference. Hadwin is a fascinating character, tormented and yet at peace. He is almost more a part of the forest than he is human. And as for the forestry industry, it is portrayed as being in transition. Moreover, while it has destroyed much, and quickly, it has done so with methods that astound and command a twisted respect. The Golden Spruce sheds some light on a realm which deserves much more.
|
See Also:
|
||||
|
|||||
