Originally published in the newsletter of the Thunder Bay Field Naturalists: Nature Northwest February 2023, Vol 77(1):15-19.  

Its about time the under-appreciated black spruce (Picea mariana) receives the attention and recognition it deserves. It’s resilience, economic importance and pan-Canadian distribution make it the stalwart, humble and inspirational icon of the Canadian boreal forest. Let’s celebrate its’ many contributions to Canadian life and psyche. Forget the geographically limited sugar maple and picturesque wind-swept white pine and let us respect black spruce as the most important and consequential Canadian forest tree.  
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The black spruce is resilient and has robust, diverse and effective survival strategies. It reflects the legendary Canadian resilience demonstrated by indigenous peoples and early immigrants to cope with harsh and varied environmental conditions and a raw and rugged physical landscape. 

See Full Article here too, with more photos. (Thanks to Gerry for permission to reprint this article.)

"     ...the black spruce is an iconic Canadian tree species and deserves to be recognized as such. It should be our National Tree."