the Adventure Lifestyle magazine

On December 10, 1997, Julia Butterfly Hill, the daughter of an evangelist preacher from Fayetteville, Arkansas, climbed an ancient redwood known as "Luna" with the help of other members of the environmental organization Earth First. Their protest was spurred by the destructive logging of old-growth redwood forests in Northern California by the Pacific Lumber Company. The Earth First activists planned to conduct a two-week tree-sit. But once she cl imbed up Luna, Julia's plans got a lot more serious. She vowed her feet would not touch the ground again until she had successfully safeguarded the tree's future for generations to come. The standoff that ensued between Ju lia Butterfly, government officials and the local logging community lasted two years. While EI Nino's 80-mile-per-hour winds, ra ins and heavy snowfalls raged around her, Ju lia Butterfly remained in contact with the world via cel l phone, conducting interviews and giving impassioned speeches on environmental InJustices. From her unique perspective atop Luna, Jul ia's goal became to educate as many people as possible about what she saw as the alarming and unnecessary destruction of old-growth forests. DUring her time In Lu~a, Julia Butterf ly metamorphosed from a middle-of-the-road environmentalist to the media-savvy poster ch ild of the entire movement. Two years and eight days after her ascent into Luna, Ju lia fina lly reached a victorious agreement with the Pacif ic Lumber Company. She paid them $50,000 in exchange for the protection of Luna and the ot~er trees with in a 2.9-acre area.These trees are a protected enclave on Pacific Lumber land and Julia Butterfly can visit Luna only if she gives 24-hour notice. To the Pacific Lumber Company, Jul ia is a lawbreaker, a nuisance, an eco-terrorist. Her extended tree-sit involved trespassing on private property, interfering with the economic vita lity of logging- dependent Humboldt County and stirr ing anti logging sentiment. But in environmental circ les, Ju lia is a saint, and her accompl ishment a milestone in the annals of environmentalism . With the help of friends- Earth First organizers, and later, environmenta lists of the Circle of Life Foundation- ju lia Butterfly managed to inspire a worldwide movement from an eight-by-ten-foot platform, 180 feet above the ground. Our story starts in her forest. Or rather, in the lOOO-year-old redwood named Luna. la no longer had need for ropes or climbing apparatus-or even shoes," On some mornings, fog rolls in, blanketing the Headwaters Forest of southern Humboldt County from the Pacific Ocean to the Eel River. Vegetation, including giant ancient redwood trees, thrives in the misty, moist conditions. In the redwood ecosystem, the fish are dependent on the health of the river, and the river's health on the surrounding landscape, including the redwoods and the wildlife that lives within it. Luna, one of the few giant redwoods left on the mountain just south of the Headwaters Forest, rises above the fog like a beacon. Here, nestled into the canopy, 26-year-old Julia Butterfly Hill lived for two years and eight days. Flying squirrels stopped by nightly for a taste of her dinner-vegetarian fare cooked on a small propane stove. Hawks, jays and owls gazed curiously at this woman with their eye view. When the fog cleared, the sun would transform the green Eel River into a bright ribbon winding through a forest scarred with clear-cuts, the remains of mudslides, and freshly-c ut logging roads. To be granted a live interview with Julia Butterfly in Luna took more than the usual phone call. After a series of mishaps involving some reporters unable to physically handle the hike, climb and height, Julia Butterfly had stopped giving interviews in the tree. But my photographer and I promised we would help her ground crew haul in the week's supply of food, climbing apparatus and anything else they needed. Four months later, at 7 AM in April 1999, we met Michael Risi ng Ground, a key member of julia Butterfly 's ground support crew, at the Stafford Co-op to purchase supplies. Michael fi lied any space left in our packs with honey, granola and fruit. Loaded, it took us almost an hour and a half to hike the ridge

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