Where is the golden spruce tree located?
Kiidk’yaas or Kiid K’iyaas (‘ancient tree’), also referred to as the Golden Spruce, was a Sitka Spruce tree, Picea sitchensis ‘Aurea’, that grew on the banks of the Yakoun River in Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), British Columbia. It had a rare genetic mutation causing its needles to be golden in color. On January 22, 1997, a 48-year-old unemployed logger named Grant Hadwin surreptitiously felled Kiidk’yaas as a political statement against logging companies. He was later arrested, but mysteriously disappeared before he could be brought to trial.
