The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed

In 1997, a survivalist named Grant Hadwin traveled into the dense rainforests of Haida Gwaii and felled the Kiidk'yaas, a unique Sitka spruce with a genetic mutation that turned its needles bright gold. The tree held deep spiritual significance for the Haida people and served as a major ecological landmark. Hadwin’s act was a calculated protest against the industrial logging industry’s destruction of old-growth forests. John Vaillant tracks the history of the timber industry in the Pacific Northwest, the biological rarity of the tree, and the subsequent disappearance of Hadwin before his trial.

The book serves naturalists and those interested in the intersection of indigenous land rights and forestry science. Readers gain a technical understanding of high-latitude ecosystem dynamics and the historical evolution of clear-cutting practices. It provides a case study on how individual psychological instability can intersect with environmental activism. Those who study the Pacific Northwest walk away with a detailed account of how colonial industry and native mythological traditions collided through a single act of ecological sabotage.