Take a bough: Climbing takes relationship with B.C.’s trees to the next level

Tree-climbing guide Tom Zadorsky takes his clients 50 metres up a grand fir tree at the University of British Columbia's Botanical Garden in Vancouver, where they can experience the forest from a unique perspective. Zadorsky, a certified arborist, has led over 1,000 tree-climbing tours since they began in May. He recounts how a 92-year-old volunteer caring for the botanical garden was moved to tears when she saw the forest from above.

Tree-climbing helps foster an intimate relationship with trees and provides a profound stillness, according to Zadorsky. Associate Dean Guangyu Wang, from the department of forest resources management at UBC, stresses the importance of forest literacy in today's dynamic ecological systems, noting that it aids in wildfire prevention and management.

Dee Ann Benard, director of UBC Botanical Garden, shares her fond memories of watching the sunset over the Salish Sea from the canopy and emphasizes the garden's old-growth trees that survived logging centuries ago. Tree-climbing can be done without a guided tour, as demonstrated by Steve Gosselin, who climbed a 40-metre-tall Sequoia on the median of Cambie Street in Vancouver.

Gosselin, an engineer and a father of three, found the experience to be unique and peaceful compared to city noise. Vancouver's Street Tree Bylaw prohibits damaging trees by attaching ropes or "any contrivance," but urban tree climbing still provides a unique experience of nature's smells, sounds, and rustling winds. Zadorsky hopes that everyone who climbs a tree leaves with a different perspective and a deeper appreciation for the forest.