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Wed Oct 31 01:59:03 GMT 2007

July 7, 2007

The Golden Spruce

By John Vaillant. A Canadian chainsaw massacre

Reviewed by Colin Tudge

FEW UNDERSTAND WHY, one winter night in 1997, Grant Hadwin cut down the
Golden Spruce. It stood on one of the Queen Charlotte Islands off British
Columbia, in the coastal temperate rainforest of the North Pacific, and was
magnificent - 50 metres tall, conical and symmetrical (as most Sitka spruce
are not), 300 years old; and did, indeed, glow golden in the sunlight, and
ghostly white by the light of the stars.

It looked that way because the chlorophyll in its outer leaves was unstable,
and broke down, so that the yellow carotene pigment beneath was revealed;
and was unique because such trees rarely survive. It attracted busloads of
tourists to a place where few would otherwise venture.

Hadwin's act was, most agreed, the most outrageous vandalism. Surely he was
just trying to make a name for himself, like the small man who killed John
Lennon. He was arrested but released on bail. The Mounties felt that he
might not survive to face trial. Local feeling ran too high.

But Hadwin wasn't just a "vandal". He had been a forester, one of the
bravest and most skilful of loggers. Only a professional could have cut this
tree, all alone in the middle of the night, with a chainsaw; if the act had
not been foul, it would have been heroic. But as he said in countless
interviews, he hated the hypocrisy. The tourists flocked and the locals took
their money, all paying homage to just one tree - which was a freak.

Meanwhile, the region had grown rich by clear-felling; of Sitka, Douglas
fir, redwoods and other magnificent forest giants, with all the creatures
that depend upon them.

But Hadwin was wrong. He did not realise that the Golden Spruce was sacred
to the local Haida people. For them it wasn't just whimsy. Their nation has
been reduced by 95 per cent, largely by smallpox introduced by Europeans. So
the Golden Spruce that their ancestors worshipped was one of the few
remaining symbols of their former glory. Had he realised this, Hadwin said,
he would not have cut it down.

This is the stuff of myth - a man destroying the thing he loves most to
awaken the world to a worse crime: and it is set in a magical land where,
Vaillant says, "there is no graceful interval between the ocean and the
trees", so that the spray and even the waves encroach upon the forest, and
the mightiest forest giants cling to the shore like barnacles.

Vaillant tells it beautifully, with long discursions into the lives of local
heroes, the history of the Haida, the botany, and the technicalities of
logging (how many ways there are to be killed).

I have referred to Hadwin in the past tense. But he fled before he stood
trial and many feel he is still alive, out there somewhere in the forest.
Unless the locals got him first.

THE GOLDEN SPRUCE by John Vaillant

Stacey Hickson

Vascular Research Clinic

ACCI Level 3, Box 110

Addenbrooke's Hospital

Cambridge, CB2 2QQ

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<div class=3DSection1>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
class=3Dapple-style-span><span lang=3DEN =
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Dear
CCC,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>

John
Vaillant, a Canadian investigative journalist, will be in Cambridge on =
Tuesday,
November 6th to give a talk about collisions between human =
ambition
and the natural world and his book &quot;The
Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed.&quot;. The talk will =
take place in the
Lesley Stephen room at Trinity Hall at 7:30pm. =
<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
class=3Dapple-style-span><span =
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>THE GOLDEN
SPRUCE: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed,</span></span><span
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;color:black'> <span =
class=3Dapple-style-span>which is
being published by Random House in the UK this July and which was =
published in
the US and Canada back in '05.</span> <span class=3Dapple-style-span>The =
book has
been a bestseller in North America and has won a &nbsp;number of awards,
including the Governor General's Award for Non-&nbsp;Fiction =
(Canada).</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>

Anything
with &quot;golden,&quot; &quot;mystery,&quot; &quot;madness,&quot; and
&quot;greed&quot; in the title is bound to be good! See below for a =
further
description and a review from The Times. <o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoPlainText><span =
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p>&nbsp;=
</o:p></span></p>

<p class=3DMsoPlainText><span =
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>See
you there!<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=3DMsoPlainText><span =
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p>&nbsp;=
</o:p></span></p>

<p class=3DMsoPlainText><span =
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Stacey<span=

class=3Dapple-style-span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>

&nbsp;The Golden =
Spruce is set
in the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia.&nbsp; It is a =
=3Dtrue=3D
eco-mystery/adventure story that is built around the death of a gigantic =
golden
tree of which there was only one in the world.&nbsp; At its root though =
is an
examination of the cost of our appetites for natural resources and the =
ongoing quest
for balance vs. profit.<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
class=3Dapple-style-span><span lang=3DEN =
style=3D'font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></span></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
class=3Dapple-style-span><span lang=3DEN =
style=3D'font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>From </span></span><span class=3Dapple-style-span><span =
lang=3DEN
style=3D'font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Th=
e Times</span></span><span
style=3D'color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
class=3Dapple-style-span><span lang=3DEN =
style=3D'font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>July 7, 2007</span></span><span =
style=3D'color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p>

<h1 =
style=3D'margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-line-height-alt:14.4pt'><sp=
an
class=3Dapple-style-span><span lang=3DEN =
style=3D'font-size:23.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
color:black'>The Golden Spruce</span></span><span =
style=3D'color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></h1>

<h2 style=3D'mso-line-height-alt:12.0pt'>By John =
Vaillant.
A Canadian chainsaw massacre<o:p></o:p></h2>

<h2 style=3D'line-height:12.0pt'><span class=3Dapple-style-span><span =
lang=3DEN
style=3D'font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>R=
eviewed
by Colin Tudge</span></span><span =
style=3D'color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></h2>

FEW =
UNDERSTAND WHY,
one winter night in 1997, Grant Hadwin cut down the Golden Spruce. It =
stood on
one of the Queen Charlotte Islands off British Columbia, in the coastal
temperate rainforest of the North Pacific, and was magnificent &#8211; =
50
metres tall, conical and symmetrical (as most Sitka spruce are not), 300 =
years
old; and did, indeed, glow golden in the sunlight, and ghostly white by =
the
light of the stars.<o:p></o:p>

It looked =
that way
because the chlorophyll in its outer leaves was unstable, and broke =
down, so that
the yellow carotene pigment beneath was revealed; and was unique because =
such
trees rarely survive. It attracted busloads of tourists to a place where =
few
would otherwise venture.<o:p></o:p>

Hadwin&#8217;s act
was, most agreed, the most outrageous vandalism. Surely he was just =
trying to
make a name for himself, like the small man who killed John Lennon. He =
was
arrested but released on bail. The Mounties felt that he might not =
survive to
face trial. Local feeling ran too high.<o:p></o:p>

But =
Hadwin
wasn&#8217;t just a &#8220;vandal&#8221;. He had been a forester, one of =
the
bravest and most skilful of loggers. Only a professional could have cut =
this
tree, all alone in the middle of the night, with a chainsaw; if the act =
had not
been foul, it would have been heroic. But as he said in countless =
interviews,
he hated the hypocrisy. The tourists flocked and the locals took their =
money,
all paying homage to just one tree &#8211; which was a =
freak.<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
class=3Dapple-style-span><span lang=3DEN =
style=3D'color:black'>Meanwhile, the region
had grown rich by clear-felling; of Sitka, Douglas fir, redwoods and =
other
magnificent forest giants, with all the creatures that depend upon =
them.</span></span><span
style=3D'color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p>

But =
Hadwin was wrong.
He did not realise that the Golden Spruce was sacred to the local Haida =
people.
For them it wasn&#8217;t just whimsy. Their nation has been reduced by =
95 per
cent, largely by smallpox introduced by Europeans. So the Golden Spruce =
that
their ancestors worshipped was one of the few remaining symbols of their =
former
glory. Had he realised this, Hadwin said, he would not have cut it =
down.<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
class=3Dapple-style-span><span lang=3DEN style=3D'color:black'>This is =
the stuff of
myth &#8211; a man destroying the thing he loves most to awaken the =
world to a
worse crime: and it is set in a magical land where, Vaillant says, =
&#8220;there
is no graceful interval between the ocean and the trees&#8221;, so that =
the
spray and even the waves encroach upon the forest, and the mightiest =
forest
giants cling to the shore like barnacles.</span></span><span =
style=3D'color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
class=3Dapple-style-span><span lang=3DEN style=3D'color:black'>Vaillant =
tells it
beautifully, with long discursions into the lives of local heroes, the =
history
of the Haida, the botany, and the technicalities of logging (how many =
ways
there are to be killed).</span></span><span =
style=3D'color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p>

I have =
referred to
Hadwin in the past tense. But he fled before he stood trial and many =
feel he is
still alive, out there somewhere in the forest. Unless the locals got =
him first.<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
class=3Dapple-style-span><span =
style=3D'color:black'>&nbsp;</span></span><span
style=3D'color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
class=3Dapple-style-span><b><span lang=3DEN style=3D'color:black'>THE =
GOLDEN SPRUCE</span></b></span><span
class=3Dapple-style-span><span lang=3DEN style=3D'color:black'> by John =
Vaillant</span></span><span
style=3D'color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><span lang=3DEN-GB>Stacey =
Hickson<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><span lang=3DEN-GB>Vascular Research =
Clinic<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><span lang=3DEN-GB>ACCI Level 3, Box =
110<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><span lang=3DEN-GB>Addenbrooke's =
Hospital<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><span lang=3DEN-GB>Cambridge, CB2 =
2QQ<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

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