A Madrona Tree Story
The Madrona Institute takes its name from the Pacific Madrone tree, commonly referred to in the Northwest as the Madrona tree, for a symbolic reason as noted below. Anchors are useful in turbulent times, and the Madrona tree highlights the importance of conserving the ecosystem that sustains us.
“Arbutus, Arbutus Menziessii, Madrone, Pacific Madrone
In a Straits Salish story, told by the late Chief Phillip Paul of the Saanich people, arbutus was the tree used by the survivors of the Great Flood (a tradition common to almost all northwest coast peoples) to anchor their canoe to the top of Mount Newton. To this day, the Saanich people do not burn arbutus in their stoves, because of the important service this tree provided long ago.”
From Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, edited and compiled by Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon, Lone Pine Publishing, 1994.
