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Environment

Infographic: Exploring the layers of ancient Sitka spruce

Different height, different habitat
  • Nov 14, 2016
  • 120 words
  • 1 minutes
walbran valley Expand Image
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Every forest is beautful, but there’s something about an old growth forest that’s just so majestic. In Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park, the ancient Sitka spruce trees tower over Vancouver Island. The Sitka spruce is a large coniferous evergreen that grows to almost 100 metres tall, and at breast height the trunk diameter can exceed 5 metres. Canada’s tallest tree, the Carmanah Giant, is nearly 96 metres tall and estimated to be around 400 years old. When a tree is that tall and that old, different layers, different worlds of wildlife emerge throughout the height of the tree. Explore those layers in the infographic below, and learn more about the Walbran Valley old growth forest in the December 2016 issue of Canadian Geographic.

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(Infographic: Alissa Dicaire)
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