One of the world’s largest western red cedars will be dedicated on Saturday to the two men who refused to cut the giant.
When brothers Wiley and Ed Duncan discovered the tree in 1975 while harvesting a timber sale for Rayonier Inc. on state Department of Natural Resources land on Jefferson County’s West End, they could not bring themselves to fall the tree.
“My brother had seen it before and walked around it that day and said we shouldn’t cut it,” said Ed Duncan.
“But we didn’t do much, that tree just grew there and we just happened to be cutting the right of way — any of the fellas could have found it.”
Duncan, 75, who still lives in the Forks area, said he is overwhelmed and honored to have the tree dedicated to him and his older brother, who died in June 2002.
State Public Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland will be on hand to dedicate the tree as “The Duncan Cedar” during a ceremony at the site of the tree beginning at noon.
The ceremony will also include several brief speeches from area residents involved in the timber industry.
The ceremony, sponsored by the Forks Lions Club, is part of the annual Hickory Shirt/Heritage Days, an eight-day celebration of the heritage and culture of the West End.
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The rest of the story appears in the Friday/Saturday Peninsula Daily News.
