Kimiko von Boetticher (1968-2010)

Earlier today a friend posted this photo of a Haida Gwaii sunrise into her online travel journal. Seeing this image reminded me of my own visit to those islands a little over 10 years ago.

Haida Gwaii, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, is Canada’s most remote archipelago and the traditional territory of the Haida First Nation. The islands' isolated location and unique conditions have made them a special destination for visitors from British Columbia, Canada and around the world interested in exploring the unique nature and Haida traditions to be found there.

My own inspiration to visit Haida Gwaii was triggered in 1997 when I first heard news reports of a sacred tree being felled as a deranged act of protest against the clear cutting of forests in British Columbia.

The story behind this tree (sometimes called the Golden Spruce, but known to the Haida as K'iid K'iyaas) is described in greater detail in an earlier post .

Although that post does provide the background of the tree itself, it doesn't explain the story of how and why I got to those islands in the first place. That part of the story starts in 1997, when I heard of K'iid K'iyaas for the first time.

When I first heard the news of this tree being felled I felt rocked to the very core of my being. I don't know why this story resonated with me as powerfully as it did, but it did. In that moment I made a vow that if I ever got out to the west coast of Canada I would make a special effort to go visit the site of this fallen tree to, effectively, pay my respects. Little did I realize at the time what kind of synchronicities would be unleashed with this simple promise.

Weeks after learning of the demise of the Golden Spruce I heard about an organization called Smartwood that was looking to certify forests and woodworkers to the sustainability standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) . Without hesitation I signed up, and on Earth Day 1998 I became one of the first custom furniture makers in the world to become certified to FSC standards.

In tandem with this I also began to volunteer time to help out the fledgling initiative of FSC Canada, which at that point consisted of a fellow named Marcelo Levy working on a shoestring budget out of a small office in Toronto.

In early 2000 I was asked if I'd be willing to be nominated for election to the FSC Canada board. In all honesty I had zero expectation of ever getting elected, because I highly doubted that anyone connected to forestry would have any idea who I was. But I agreed nonetheless, figuring that my name was just going to be a token addition to the ballot to create a semblance of competition for the position.

As fluke would have it I ended up getting elected. The news came right out of left field, and given how busy I was with work at the time I remember asking myself how I was ever going to find time for this new commitment. That question was answered a few days later when a freak accident in a touch football game resulted in multiple fractures to my left hand - effectively retiring me from that hobby.

My first meeting with the FSC Canada board was held in Toronto, and at this meeting it was determined that our next meeting would be held in Vancouver. Upon learning this I suddenly realized that the opportunity to visit the Golden Spruce had now presented itself.

Only now did I actually start looking at maps to figure out where, exactly, I would be going - and it was only then that I figured out that a side trip to Haida Gwaii was going to be a little more involved than driving a rental car north from Vancouver.

Now realizing my need for logistical help to make things happen I began to ask my fellow board members for advice and suggestions. Two of them provided names and email addresses of various people living on the islands, but for one reason or another none of these leads panned out. I resigned myself to the conclusion that a side trip to Haida Gwaii simply wasn't meant to be.

Then, a few weeks before the Vancouver meetings a friend of mine from Ottawa came by to visit. He asked how my Haida Gwaii plans were coming, and I told him that it wasn't looking like this part of the trip was going to happen.

"You're not going to believe this" he said, "But last night I was together with friends in a restaurant and we were talking about your plans to see the Golden Spruce. Someone at the next table overheard the conversation, and she handed me this business card - saying that if you were having trouble getting out there that you should give her a call."

The card belonged to a person named Kimiko von Boetticher, and at the time she was the HCSP Marine Stewardship Coordinator for Haida Gwaii. By some twist of fate she was in town to visit her parents, and just happened to overhear the conversation of my planned trip.

Of course it's one thing to overhear a conversation, and quite another to intuitively pass along a business card to a complete stranger. Nevertheless, this is what she did.

After a few photo calls I was finally able to arrange local transportation as well as a place to stay with Kimiko and her partner Andrew Merilees. But having done this a new problem now emerged.

Given how small the islands were there was only a single "puddle jumper" of a plane flying in and out of the village of Sandspit every day, and being so close to Christmas every flight was booked solid for weeks. Not willing to give up at this point I gave my itinerary to my travel agent, and hoped for the best to see what she could do.

Within hours she called me back - totally astonished. Two cancellations for single seats had suddenly appeared on her computer - one for the flight going in on the day I wanted, and the other for the flight going out. She asked if I still wanted them, and without hesitation I said to book the seats.

At the conclusion of the board meetings in Vancouver I made my way north to Haida Gwaii, where I was welcomed into the home of Kimiko and Andrew in the village of Masset. In addition to their wonderful hospitality of providing me with me with a place to stay, they also arranged for transportation to get me out to where the Golden Spruce was located.

On the next day I ended up making a solo venture into the rainforest, and my resulting experience can best be described as an epiphany. That experience not only resulted in the creation of a painting that was donated to the Haida as a gesture of Hope over the loss of their sacred tree, but several years later it also resulted in the story of K'iid K'iyaas being incorporated into an award winning film entitled "The Green Chain".

To make a long story short, had it not been for Kimiko following her intuitive hunch to pass along a business card to a complete stranger, my trip to Haida Gwaii would never have happened and, by extension, the story of K'iid K'iyaas would never have been part of "The Green Chain".

From my brief time spent with them I do know that both Kimiko and Andrew both felt deep love Haida Gwaii and everything associated with it, including K'iid K'iyaas. Probably without realizing it at the time, Kimiko had indirectly helped keep the spirit of the tree alive by keeping the memory of its story alive.

This morning, after seeing the photo of the Haida Gwaii sunrise, I decided to Google Kimiko's name to see what she was doing now. I was stunned to discover that she passed away on January 4th, 2010.

In honour of Kimiko I wanted to post this story of her to my blog - both to honour her spirit and help keep the memory of her alive. Thanks to Google I have found others have also posted stories of Kimiko as well, including Kimiko Tree by Sheri Bakes, and The Green Traveller by Robert Doane.

My deepest condolences to Andrew and the rest of Kimiko's family over her passing.

The Spirit of K'iid K'iyaas

In April 2002 the "Forest Leadership Forum" was held in Atlanta, Georgia. This conference brought together more than 1,300 leaders from 45 countries to discuss important issues related to the goal of sustainable forest management, including the role of certification schemes in improving forest management. Participants included representatives from environmental groups, retailers, and the forest products industry. This forum was jointly sponsored by Metafore and the World Wildlife Fund.

During this conference a special ceremony took place on the evening of Friday April 26th to present an original commissioned painting entitled "The Spirit of K'iid K'iyaas" to the Haida First Nation. Generously donated by Canadian wildlife artist Donna Bisschop, this painting was offered as a gesture of Hope over the loss 5 years earlier of a tree considered sacred to the Haida people.

K'iid K'iyaas (also known as the Golden Spruce) was felled on January 22, 1997 by an unemployed logger named Thomas Grant Hadwin. Hadwin's actions served as little more than a deranged act of protest against the clear-cutting of forests in British Columbia.

The story of K'iid K'iyaas is explained in greater detail in my earlier post.

The Story of K'iid K'iyaas (The Golden Spruce)

Two days ago outdoors writer Margaret Carney published an article entitled "It's hard not to love a tree -- do you have a favorite?"

Here's the story of my own favorite tree.

Exactly fourteen years ago today a deranged act of eco-terrorism resulted in a sacred tree being cut down on Haida Gwaii.

Haida Gwaii (also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands) lies about 100 miles off the Northwest coast of British Columbia, Canada. Covered in lush temperate rainforest, these islands provide habitat for a broad range of unique plant, animal, fish and bird species. For at least 10,000 years, Haida Gwaii has also been home to the Haida First Nation, a powerful and enduring tribe famous for their warrior culture, their myths, and their totemic art forms.

One enduring mystical story derived from Haida folklore is that of K'iid K'iyaas, which loosely translates as "Old Tree". Haida legend tells of a young man who was disrespectful of nature's ways. When his village was destroyed by a snowstorm, only a boy and his grandfather were able to flee. Despite warnings not to look back, the boy disobeyed and instantly his arms were turned into branches and his legs became roots, and he was transformed into the magnificent golden spruce that became sacred to the Haida people.

Although genetically a Sitka Spruce, this tree's survival for over 300 years defied all conventional scientific explanation. Lacking cartenoid, a sort of arboreal sunscreen that protects leaves from excessive sunlight, the Golden Spruce should have withered and died. Instead, it flourished on the bank of the Yakoun River, and its inability to photosynthesize sunlight gave its needles a magnificent golden hue.

All this came to an end on January 22, 1997 when an unemployed forester named Thomas Grant Hadwin cut the tree down and sent a Unabomber-type manifesto to the Haida First Nation, environmentalists, and several newspapers. Hadwin was a vocal critic of logging industry practices in British Columbia. He was particularly angered by what he perceived to be MacMillan Bloedel's hypocrisy of clear-cutting hundreds of thousands of trees, while professing to be good corporate citizens by cordoning off a small segment of rainforest around the Golden Spruce.

His letter proclaimed that "I didn't enjoy butchering this magnificent old plant, but you apparently needed a wake-up call that even a university-trained professional should be able to understand." Hadwin was arrested and charged, but he mysteriously disappeared before ever coming to trial.

The Haida were devastated because they considered themselves responsible for the tree's stewardship. Even more upsetting, the falling of the Golden Spruce also heralded the fulfilment of an ancient prophecy.

Upon first hearing of this tragedy in 1997 I felt rocked to the very core of my being, and in that moment I made a promise that if I ever got to the west coast of Canada I would visit the site of this fallen tree to pay my respects. On some level this simple promise seemed to trigger a series of strange coincidental events which culminated in my making the trip in December 2000. In many ways the experience became an epiphany for me.

Unbeknownst to me at the time some other people were also having serendipities of their own with respect to the Golden Spruce. One of these was a writer by the name of John Vaillant. At the time John was freelancing for several publications including The New Yorker, and he initially travelled to Haida Gwaii to write an article about kayaking. Upon hearing of the Golden Spruce he got sidetracked enough to write first an article entitled "The Golden Bough" and, later, this book:

John's book "The Golden Spruce" ended up winning the Governor General's Award for literature, and it does a remarkable job of documenting the history and extenuating circumstances that led to the ultimate demise of K'iid K'iyaas.



During this same time Mark Leiren-Young was also working on his award winning film "The Green Chain" , and he paid homage to K'iid K'iyaas by incorporating its story into a rivetting monologue delivered by actor August Schellenberg.

By this point you may be wondering what the story is behind this tree. For this I believe the story of K'iid K'iyaas is best told by Haida artist Hazel Wilson. What follows is a repost of a series of images that first appeared on a website in 2005, as part of an exhibition of button blankets by Hazel at the Marion Scott Gallery in Vancouver.

Born in 1941, Hazel Wilson grew up in the village of Old Massett on Haida Gwaii. Called Jut-ke-Nay in her native Haida language, she is a member of the Duugwaa St’Langng 7laanaas clan on the Raven side.

When she was 14, Wilson’s aunts informed her that she was to become a maker of appliquéd button blankets—ceremonial robes created from melton cloth and decorated with pieces of abalone, copper and pearl buttons.

Wilson mastered her designated craft in due course, making countless robes for friends and relatives over the years. In the early 1970s she moved with her children to Vancouver, where she continued to create robes for family members and the contemporary art market. Now her extended family’s matriarch, Wilson is widely recognized as an important innovator within Haida artistic tradition.

For the majority of her artistic career, Wilson has concentrated on creating button blankets that feature stylized interpretations of various family crests, such as frogs and ravens. Traditional in conception, Wilson’s crest designs are nonetheless distinctive and contemporary: in addition to buttons, she attaches a range of materials to her images, including pieces of brass, shells from the sea and beadwork.

In more recent years, Wilson has undertaken less traditional projects and directions. In 2005, she completed a unprecedented series of 17 button blankets that chronicle the life and tragic demise of the famed Golden Spruce Tree; and in 2006 she began work on an even larger blanket series that records many of the stories told to her as a child growing up on Haida Gwaii.

This, then, is the story of K'iid K'iyaas, as told by Hazel Wilson:

1. Young Thunderwoman

"This blanket is a portrait of Thunderwoman
- the first Golden Spruce -
whom the Haida call Hiilang Jaat.
During the last ice age she made a wish
to be perpetually young;
for that reason I always
portray her as a beautiful young woman.
The white shells around her head indicate
that this is in the time of the last ice age."

2. Thunderwoman

"Hiilang Jaat and her nephew were originally humans who
lived through the Flood. They always have their hands out,
praying to the Creator that they would survive or be remembered."
"Hiilang Jaat became the first Golden Spruce."

3. Thunderwoman, middle-aged

"This blanket represents the time of the smallpox epidemic,
shown by the coloured buttons around Thunderwoman's head.
According to our oral traditions, Hiilang Jaat and her nephew
were the only two survivors."

4. Hiilang Jaat

"Another image of Hiilang Jaat in the Ice Age.
Because she always wanted to be beautiful,
she wears a blouse decorated with many shells."

5. Hiilang Jaat

"Her expression is solemn because she is remembering
the smallpox epidemic that devastated her people.
Her top is dark to reflect her sombre mood.
The designs in her hair symbolize the lightning
that would one day strike her down."

"She wears a piece of beadwork that belonged to my mother.
I always include a piece from my mother's collection of beadwork
when portraying Hiilang Jaat."

6. Thunderwoman

"Hiilang Jaat in her prime - a representation of the first
Golden Spruce remembered in all her beauty.
The buttons in her palms remind us that she
has returned to the stars.
She has gone Home."

7. Young K'iid K'iyaas

"K'iid K'iyaas and his aunt, Hiilang Jaat, were the only two
survivors of the smallpox epidemic. When Hiilang Jaat died,
K'iid K'iyaas lay down beside the dead tree.
Instead of dying himself,
he was transformed into the second Golden Spruce."

8. Young K'iid K'iyaas

"Another image of K'iid K'iyaas in his youth.
The red cuts in his side
foretell what is going to happen."

9. Young K'iid K'iyaas

"K'iid K'iyaas in his prime.
He is slim, golden and handsome -a beautiful young spruce.
K'iid K'iyaas was once a human being - a man - whose aunt
became the first Golden Spruce.
The three coppers signify that he would grow tall
and live to be 300 years old."



10. Not Reproducible

"The Golden Spruce is middle-aged here.
His branches have been shot off
in hopes of creating a new tree by grafting,
to no avail."

11. Ancient Tree

"This is a portrait of K'iid K'iyaas from the perspective
of the last person to see him alive and intact.
To this person, K'iid K'iyaas appeared to be just an old, shiny tree.
The green branches at the bottom
show that there is strength and vitality under the skin of age."

"The spirit of the Golden Spruce
is looking back at the individual with sadness,
knowing what is to come."

12: Falling

"When K'iid K'iyaas was cut down, he was filled
with pain, sadness and tears.
He was fallen."

13. The Hand Reaches Out

"K'iid K'iyaas, fallen, is being raised up
by the hand of the Creator,
who will reunite him with his aunt, Hiilang Jaat.
The heart with the teardrop in the centre
shows that he is remembered and mourned."

14. Tears of Haida Gwaii

"When K'iid K'iyaas was felled in 1997 by a man from the mainland,
it filled the Haida with pain and sadness.
This is K'iid K'iyaas after he was cut down.
The red marks on his sides indicate where he chainsaw ripped through him.
The tears in the background are the tears of the Haida people.
K'iid K'iyaas has fallen, but his spirit is still present."

15. Together

"All the legends come together here - the Flood,
the Ice Age, and the smallpox."

"The aunt and the nephew are alone; all the other people are gone.
They hold the last of the magic in their hands.
K'iid K'iyaas holds the Raven who, during the Flood, was not lost.
Hiilang Jaat holds the crystals of magic for the last time
before they were hidden in the mountains forever."

"This is just befoe Hiilang Jaat was transformed into the first
Golden Spruce."

16. New Hope

"A new Golden Spruce is growing out of the fallen trunk,
while the spirits of Hiilang Jaat and K'iid K'iyaas look on.
The severed hand of K'iid K'iyaas is remerging in the form of the little tree.
The smiling spirit of K'iid K'iyaas is confident that the new tree
will survive and grow to a great height;
Hiilang Jaat, on the other hand, is more anxious about the future
of the young spruce."

(Special thanks to Russ Heinl for sharing his amazing photograph of K'iid K'iyaas, taken while it was still standing. Thanks also to August, John and Mark for keeping the spirit of K'iid K'iyaas alive through their efforts to share the story. Thanks to Donna Bisschop for her donation of the painting "The Spirit of K'iid K'iyaas", which was presented to the Haida at a special ceremony in April 2002, as a gesture of Hope over the loss of this sacred tree. Last but not least, thanks to Hazel Wilson, Leo Gagnon and the Haida people for allowing the story of K'iid K'iyaas to be shared with the rest of the world.)