Kiidk'yaas Fell In Logging Protest

Kiidk'yaas was a rare Sitka spruce on Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, whose genetic mutation gave it golden needles instead of green ones, and the Haida people considered the tree sacred. In January 1997, a 47-year-old unemployed forest engineer named Grant Hadwin deliberately felled it as an act of protest against the logging industry. Hadwin claimed responsibility afterward, and the destruction provoked outrage across Canada.

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