What would it be like to decide one day to visit all the biggest trees in your state, or, in this case, the province of British Columbia? Amanda Lewis takes us with her on this adventure. Tracking Giants blends humorous takes on her own incompetence, lots of information about Big Trees, quotations from multiple nature writers, and thoughtful consideration of personal growth.
The trees she sought are Champions, listed online by the province’s Big Tree Committee. To make the list, a tree must have the highest score for its species in a calculation that combines measurements of its crown, its height, and its diameter at breast height. As Lewis, notes, searching for Champions is like squeezing Jello – trees grow; trees die by natural and human actions. They can be chopped down or simply demoted by discovery of a bigger tree. A Champion one day may be replaced the next.
Lewis is a book editor, but when she told a Big Tree Committee member her search plans, she was asked to report her measurements of each Big Tree she found. She had a lot to learn. At first she measured the diameter by hugging the tree. Later she became more adept.
Interspersed with narratives of the search are quotations from many nature writers, some recent, such as Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass and Rebecca Solnit’s Orwell’s Roses. These, like many other of her sources, are part of the Miller Library collection.
Finding a tree, looking at it, and measuring it became over time insufficient for Lewis. She records how she learned to consider the tree’s environment, the history of the surrounding forest, the plants and animals nearby. Eventually she broadened her whole concept of the search itself.
All this is worth reading about. The writing is lively and clear. The parts are well integrated. Champions turn out to be a winning subject.
Reviewed by Priscilla Grundy in the Leaflet, Volume 10, Issue 10, October 2023.