Naked tree-hugger visits Canada

The rain in Port Renfrew on Friday morning that didn’t stop Julianne Skai Arbor from stripping off her clothes and closely embracing the mossy trunk of the massive San Juan spruce. “It’s my first time on Vancouver Island and there was a downpour, but it’s still beautiful,” said Arbor.

Arbor, a 43-year-old California college professor who teaches environmental conservation, travels around the world photographing herself naked with old or endangered trees. She is currently lending her support to the Ancient Forest Alliance’s efforts to push the British Columbia government into coming up with a strategy to protect big trees and remaining patches of old-growth forest.



“The most fragile ecosystems that are still intact should be put aside,” said Arbor. “It’s amazing for me to see the forests on this Island and I wonder how the people who live here can watch the cutting of the forest. There is only so much you can do before it’s gone.” The peaceful feeling of being surrounded by nature’s lifeforce in an old forest is very different from feelings generated by a clearcut or tree farm, she said.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and founder TJ Watt, who photographed Arbor with the San Juan spruce, said the photos are a new way of highlighting the grandeur of B.C.’s old-growth forests so they can be protected. “When people see these images, they strike a chord.” The San Juan spruce, which stands in a forest recreation site beside the San Juan River, is the largest spruce tree in Canada at 62 metres tall, with a crown that spreads over 23 metres. It does not have any official protection.