The article at least shows it's very plausible that the people who cut it down didn't know that this particular tree was record breaking, only that the type of trees in that area were known to be extremely old
Kiidk'yaas, also known as the Golden Spruce is an example.
The article conveniently links to a list of individual trees.
What a fucking moron
Ah but there's hope:
> In 1977 a group of botanists from the University of British Columbia (UBC) visited Haida Gwaii to take cuttings of Kiidk'yaas.[5] These cuttings were grafted onto ordinary Sitka spruce, resulting in two golden saplings.
The Tree of Gondor!