The Worlds Largest Sitka Spruce (OFFICIAL) at Queets and Lake Quinault

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• published: 01 Apr 2010
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Queets Spruce This is a Sitka spruce tree growing near the Queets River in Olympic National Park. It is the largest spruce in the world with a trunk volume of 337 m³ (11,901 cubic feet) and an estimate age of 350-450 years. The Queets Spruce is the largest in the world with a trunk volume of 337 m3 (11,901 cubic feet) it's 75.6 meters (248 ft) tall and 455 cm (15 ft) in dbh. It is located near the Queets River in Olympic National Park, about 16 miles (26 km) from the Pacific Ocean. The Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) is a large coniferous evergreen tree growing to 5070 m tall, exceptionally to 100 m tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to 5 m, exceptionally to 67 m diameter. It is by far the largest species of spruce; the fourth largest conifer in the world (behind Giant Sequoia, Coast Redwood and Western Red Cedar); and the third tallest conifer species (after Coast Redwood and Coast Douglas-fir). It acquires its name from the community of Sitka, Alaska. [edit]Description The bark is thin and scaly, flaking off in small circular plates 520 cm across. The crown is broad conic in young trees, becoming cylindric in older trees; old trees may have no branches in the lowest 3040 m. The shoots are very pale buff-brown, almost white, and glabrous (hairless) but with prominent pulvini. The leaves are stiff, sharp and needle-like, 1525 mm long, flattened in cross-section, dark glaucous blue-green above with two or three thin lines of stomata, and blue-white below with two dense bands of stomata. The cones are pendulous, slender cylindrical, 511 cm long and 2 cm broad when closed, opening to 3 cm broad. They have thin, flexible scales 15-20 mm long; the bracts just above the scales are the longest of any spruce, occasionally just exserted and visible on the closed cones. They are green or reddish, maturing pale brown 57 months after pollination. The seeds are black, 3 mm long, with a slender, 79 mm long pale brown wing. Sitka Spruce forest in the Olympic Mountains, Washington Sitka Spruce is native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on Kodiak Island, Alaska, and its southeastern limit near Fort Bragg in northern California (Griffin & Critchfield 1972). It is closely associated with the temperate rain forests and is found within a few kilometers of the coast in the southern portion of its range. North of Oregon, its range extends inland along river floodplains, but nowhere does its range extend more than 80 km from the Pacific Ocean and its inlets. Quinault Lake Spruce, Largest according to American Forest by points More than a century of logging has left only a remnant of the spruce forest. The largest trees were cut long before careful measurements could be made. Trees over 90 m tall may still be seen in the Pacific Rim National Park and Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, British Columbia (the Carmanah Giant, at 96 meters (315 ft) tall the tallest tree in Canada), and in the Olympic National Park, Washington and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California (USA); two at the last site are just over 96 meters (315 ft) tall. The Queets Spruce is the largest in the world with a trunk volume of 337 m3 (11,901 cubic feet) it's 75.6 meters (248 ft) tall and 455 cm (15 ft) in dbh. It is located near the Queets River in Olympic National Park, about 16 miles (26 km) from the Pacific Ocean. Sitka Spruce is a long-lived tree, with individuals over 700 years old known. Because it grows rapidly under favorable conditions, large size may not indicate exceptional age. The Queets Spruce has been estimated to be only 350 to 450 years old, but adds more than a cubic meter of wood each year (Van Pelt, 2001). A unique specimen with golden foliage that used to grow on the Queen Charlotte Islands, known as Kiidk'yaas, is sacred to the Haida Native American people. It was illegally felled, although saplings grown from cuttings can now be found near its original site.