Qualla: Duncan Cedar

Duncan Cedar: Introduction

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Steven Pavlov, CC BY-SA 4.0. Two loggers named Wiley and Ed Duncan were cutting a state timber sale in 1975 when they came across something that stopped them cold. Rising from the temperate rainforest near Nolan Creek on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, a Western redcedar of staggering proportions stood in the path of the harvest. At 19.4 feet in diameter and 178 feet tall, the tree was so large that felling it would have been less an act of logging than one of demolition. The Duncans reported what they had found, and the Forks Lions Club lobbied the state to pull the tree from the sale. They succeeded. The cedar was spared, renamed in honor of the two men who chose to speak up rather than cut it down, and today it stands as the largest known Western redcedar on Earth.

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Image: Steven Pavlov | CC BY-SA 4.0

Duncan Cedar: Last One Standing

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Menchi, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Duncan Cedar's surroundings tell a story the tree itself cannot. It rises from a patch of second-growth forest that sprouted after commercial logging interests clearcut the original old-growth rainforest in this area during the mid-20th century. The young trees pressing in ar...

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Image: Menchi | CC BY-SA 3.0

Duncan Cedar: A Millennium of Patience

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Steven Pavlov, CC BY-SA 4.0. Western redcedars are among the longest-lived tree species in North America, and the Duncan Cedar has used that longevity fully. At over 1,000 years old, it has outlasted the rise and fall of medieval kingdoms, the European arrival on this coast, and the industrial transformation...

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Image: Steven Pavlov | CC BY-SA 4.0

Duncan Cedar: The Measure of Giants

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Marrstree, CC BY-SA 4.0. After the Quinault Big Cedar died in 2016, the Duncan Cedar became the largest known Western redcedar in the United States by volume. It is also the largest tree of any species in Washington state, and among the largest trees on Earth outside of California's remaining old-growth ...

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Image: Marrstree | CC BY-SA 4.0

Duncan Cedar: Four Miles of Gravel

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Steven Pavlov, CC BY-SA 4.0. Reaching the Duncan Cedar requires commitment. Located in Jefferson County approximately 15 miles south of Forks, the tree sits on land managed by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, accessible only by traveling about four miles on unpaved logging roads off US R...

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Image: Steven Pavlov | CC BY-SA 4.0