The Tree Ambassador Project of Restoring Earth Connection has completed a 5-month project canvas of the neighborhoods of Olympia to find its largest trees. This was a project sponsored by the City of Olympia’s Inspire Grant. Volunteer “Ambassadors” shared with neighbors a handout listing the many benefits of their trees: drawing down pollution, drawing down and storing carbon to help combat climate change, managing stormwater to prevent flooding, reducing heat islands and heating and cooling bills, and providing health benefits and more.
“Because the biggest trees do the most carbon drawdown and storage, the most pollution drawdown, and the most stormwater management, we focused on holding a contest to find the biggest trees in Olympia. We can now tell you where the biggest trees of 19 species are in the city, as well as where the biggest in each of 4 quadrants of the city, and a downtown section.” says Lynn Fitz-Hugh, Executive Director of Restoring Earth Connection. We find that the homeowners take great pride in, and love their trees.
The Contest Winner
A 30’ Redwood was our frontrunner, until the last day of the contest we discovered the true winner: a 31’11” Sequoia – pictured here! Unfortunately, the owner does not want the address released.
The Second and Third biggest trees in Olympia: both Coastal Redwoods.
As a result of growing together the absolutely largest redwood in Olympia, and second largest tree city-wide, is a Coastal Redwood that has 4 trees grown together at its base. This tree resides at 1701 4th Ave W and is 30’ in circumference. We have been told the owner bought the house to protect the tree.
The winning single trunk Redwood was 25’ 11” and was in the front yard at 2116 Bethell NE, but in the backyard were two more almost as big! This winner, pictured here, also towers 5 stories high. The winning Redwood for the SE quadrant had two giants, about 8 feet apart, 22.5’ and 22’ feet circumference, respectively.
Windstorm danger?
These twins from the SE quadrant bring up an important issue about windstorm “danger”. Many people expressed anxiety that a windstorm could blow their big tree onto their house. As one woman told us: “I moved here from the deserts of California. I find the trees beautiful, but I was afraid of them. During windstorms the wind would throw the cones onto the roof, and I would be terrified, but my husband is a native and he has reassured me that we will be safe.” We explained that only ill or dying trees fall and that if concerned, one could have an arborist assess the tree.
Can We Help Trees “move” for Climate Change?
A controversy which has long existed in the Native plant community is whether because California is losing many trees to drought and increasing heat, some of those species could be “saved” by migrating them to the Northwest. . We have found that the two biggest California native species we have are the Giant Sequoia and the Coast Redwood, which have been here for well over a 100 years. While growth conditions for all trees are rapidly deteriorating, this indicates 1) we can plant these cousins from the South and have them flourish, and 2) it will have a significant impact on what shade and other tree benefits we have 25 and 30 years from now.
Biggest Native Trees
In general, native trees are the least vulnerable to drought and the effects of climate change. The biggest native tree turns out to be a Red Western Cedar with “4-cedars-grown-together” in front of an apartment building at 315 Puget St. NE, measuring 22’ 11” below the separation of its 4 trunks. We found many united trunks and groves of trees hanging out with a sibling.
Douglas Firs were absolutely the most commonly occurring. While you can find tall spindly ones that are perhaps young or grew up too crowded, it is not uncommon to find many 10-12 feet in circumference or 191-213 years old all over the place. The largest Douglas Fir we found was 19’ in diameter at 1201 Centerwood Dr. SE, which would make it about 362 years old!
Our third largest native tree was a Big Leaf Maple measuring 18’ 9”, at 1120 San Francisco Ave NE. We are not confident that there isn’t a bigger Doug fir or Big Leaf maple elsewhere, but these two are the biggest that got recorded. Contact us if you have a bigger one!
Where the Biggest Trees Live:
In general, we found that the biggest trees were on very old properties, indicating their presence before development or at least undisturbed since development. This meant churches, hospitals and government buildings had very large trees. But there were also big trees on the survey that are hundreds of years old and thus were left where they were when development happened. A really great number of these were from homes built in the 70’s. We don’t know the specifics of that development code, but it clearly saved trees.
The Future for Olympia’s Large Trees
In contrast, among the most treeless neighborhoods we saw were some developed in 2005, 2016, and 2022. Everything had been cleared, two-thirds of the lot was built on, what trees were planted after construction (usually only one) would remain small, and most were not native, making them vulnerable to disease or climate. In our city landscape, we have created mini-neighborhoods that are now permanent heat islands, and there is little way to rectify this.
We found a disturbing pattern of large trees either being on the property of elderly owners or on older rental properties. These properties are very vulnerable to being sold in the next decade with no stipulation the tree won’t be torn down. Restoring Earth Connection hopes to work with the City of Olympia as it is updating its tree codes to build in protections for our biggest and oldest trees. We also hope to come out with maps for each neighborhood for a tree walk!
Photos by Lynn Fitz-Hugh: 31’11” Sequoia; 25’11”’ Coastal Redwood; 22’11” Western Red Cedar; 18’9” Big Leaf Maple
Lynn Fitz-Hugh founded and is the Executive Director of Restoring Earth Connection. For over 18 years, she has worked in various capacities fighting climate change.
| Type of Tree | Location | Circumference at BH |
| Giant Sequoia (CA native) | undisclosed | 31’ 11” |
| Coastal Redwood (grown together) | 1701 – 4th Ave W. (SW) | 30’ exactly |
| Coastal Redwood – single main – CA native | 2116 Bethel NE | 25’ 11” |
| Western Red Cedar have multiple mains | 315 Puget NE – 4 grown together | 22’11” |
| Doug Fir – native ~ 362 years old | 1201 Centerwood Dr. SE | 19’ exactly |
| Big Leaf Maple – native | 1120 San Francisco NE | 18’ 9” |
| Madrone – native – unheard of big | See from alley behind Bethel and Yew St NE | Over 18’ |
| Ponderosa Pine – this one is ill –
More common to Eastern WA |
905 Giles NW by Westside Coop | 18’ 1” |
| Sitka Spruce – rare and big native | on Karen Frazier SW | 16’ 11” |
| Deodar Cedar -common | 1518 Union St. SE | 16 ‘ 7” |
| Norway Spruce – common | 1716 Franklin St. | 16’ exactly |
| Grand Fir – common | 3210 1615 Puget Rd SE | 15’ 8” |
| Hinoki Cypress – common | 600 Washington St. – Superintendent of Public schools | 14’ 4” |
| Beech tree – common | 826 Percival SW | 13’ 5” |
| Nootka (Alaskan) Cyprus Native | 3119 31st Ct SE (multiple leads) | 13’ 4” – really tall |
| Western Hemlock – native | 1513 Dickinson Ave NW | 13’ 2” |
| Walnut tree – common | 1411 Middle St. SE | 12’ 5” & 11’ 4” sibling |
| Norway Maple – common ~207 years | Milroy SW and 8th | 12’ 1” |
| Lawson/Or Cyprus (native to CA/OR) | 1230 5th Ave SE | 11’ 10” |
| Dogwood – native | 406 18th Ave SE | 10’ exactly |
| Scot’s Pine – common | 815 Hale NE | 10’ exactly |
| Dawn Redwood | 1516 Giles NW | 9’ 11” |
| Monkey Puzzle Tree | 2021 7th St SW | 9’ 6” |
This is a delightful list. Our neighborhood lost a giant sequoia a few years ago when it became too big for the space between the two houses it was planted between. It was quite a project, and the neighborhood turned out to bid it farewell.