The Golden Spruce

Background

The Golden Spruce book grew from a 2002 New Yorker piece by Vaillant. While researching, he found that local clans in the Pacific Northwest own the tree's oral history, and retelling it requires their permission. Vaillant observed that even absent or dead people leave behind traces like objects, documents, relationships, and others' memories.

Overview

The book tells the story of Kiidk'yaas, a Sitka Spruce tree with a genetic mutation causing it to appear golden, venerated by the Haida people. It was felled in Haida Gwaii by forest engineer Grant Hadwin. Publishers Weekly described the felling as taking on potent symbolism in a probing study of eco-vandalism, portraying a land of virtually infinite natural resources overmatched by human rapaciousness.

Reception

The Golden Spruce won the 2005 Governor General's Awards for non-fiction. The Sydney Morning Herald called it a deep-reaching account of the clash between wilderness values, the logging industry, white settlers, and first nations people.

The New York Times said it explores the relationship between man and nature with lush language and page-turning suspense. It has drawn comparisons to Silent Spring, The Hot Zone, H is for Hawk, and Flash Boys. In 2016, the book was adapted into a feature-length documentary titled Hadwin’s Judgement by filmmaker Sasha Snow.