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Port McNeill is a small town in the North Island
region of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. Located on the
island's north-east shore on Queen Charlotte Strait, it was originally a
base camp for loggers, which became a settlement in 1936. Logging is
still the primary business here, and its produce contributes
approximately 8% of the total timber harvest in British Columbia. Port
McNeill’s other claim to fame is that it’s home to the world’s largest
burls.
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A burl (or burr) is a large knot or wart-like outgrowth on the trunk of
a tree, that happens when the tree undergoes some form of stress caused
by an injury, virus or fungus. Like cancer, the tree cells multiply
uncontrollably resulting in abnormal bumps on the trunk. In some tree
species such as redwoods, burls can grow to great size, which isn’t
surprising given that redwoods are one of the largest and tallest trees
on the planet. Burls in redwoods can encircle the entire trunk, and in
the presence of moisture the burl itself can give birth to new redwood
trees.
The world’s largest burl, however, wasn’t formed on a redwood but on a
Sitka Spruce tree near Holberg on northern Vancouver Island. Discovered
in 2005, the burl is 6 meters tall, 6 meters in diameter and weighs an
estimated 30 tons. Had the burl been discovered somewhere else, it would
probably have been left on the tree and become a natural attraction. But
Port McNeill being a logger’s town, the burl was promptly chopped off
and proudly displayed in a waterfront park at Broughton Boulevard.
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The world’s second largest burl (formerly the largest burl) is also
located in Port McNeill. It was cut from the base of a 351-year-old
Sitka Spruce tree in 1976, about 40 kilometers southwest from where it
is currently displayed. This burl weighs an estimated 22 tons and
measures 13.7 meters in circumference. At the time of its discovery, it
was the largest burl. It was displaced from its position in 2005 by the
Holberg discovery, but the signpost near the burl hasn’t been updated
yet and still says “the world’s largest burl”.
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The burl was covered by a layer of fiberglass mold in 1997 to prevent
decay by attack from pathogens, fungi and insects.
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