Nature
Kiidk'yaas, the Golden Spruce, was a rare golden-needled Sitka spruce that grew beside the Yakoun River in Haida Gwaii and became one of Canada’s best-known individual trees. For the Haida, it was a sacred being bound to story and place, linked in mythology to a boy transformed after disrespecting nature. In January 1997, Grant Hadwin cut the tree down in protest against the logging industry, provoking outrage across Canada before he disappeared while trying to return for trial. Earlier cuttings had produced grafted offspring, and later propagation continued with Haida permission. Even after its fall, Kiidk'yaas remained culturally important through salvaged artworks and lasting public memory.
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