Julia Hill was only 23 years old when she stunned the world by embarking on a two-year protest against the cutting down of a thousand-year-old giant tree in California’s Redwood Forest.
In December 1997, Environmental activist Julia “Butterfly” Hill decided to live in a coast redwood named Luna for more than two years to show her anger about cutting down California redwood trees. Pacific Lumber was the company doing this. Luna stayed in a tree 180 feet high, facing harsh weather and problems caused by the company. She sometimes thought she might die. She had to deal with cold rain, strong winds, and people bothering her from the company. Sometimes, she was really scared and thought she might not make it.
From December 10, 1997, to December 18, 1999, her home was a small platform about six feet wide, high up in the ancient tree, almost 200 feet above the ground. Julia and others were against the Pacific Lumber Company’s plans to cut down many trees in the area. She only came down from Luna after the company agreed to protect Luna and 200 feet of the forest around it. A year later, Luna survived an attempt to cut it down with a chainsaw. Now, a nonprofit organization called Sanctuary Forest takes care of Luna.
“I came down to a hurting world – constantly wanting and needing my help with everything they cared about. From their child’s book report, to trying to save local trees and community gardens, to ending animal cruelty for food, to creating the department of peace in response to endless wars. The issues and challenges were endless,” Julia wrote on her website.
Julia was born in 1974. Her father, Dale, was a preacher who traveled a lot. So, when Julia was young, they lived in a camper van. They moved around a bunch until Julia was about 10 years old. When Julia was six, something special happened while they were out hiking. A butterfly landed on her finger and stayed there for the whole hike! Her family thought it was cool and started calling her “Butterfly.”
After their travels, Julia’s family settled in Arkansas. She went to college there but wasn’t sure what she wanted to do after she finished. Then, in 1996, something horrific happened. She was 22 and working as a restaurant and bar consultant when she was struck by a drunk driver and Julia’s head hit the steering wheel hard.
It took a long time for Julia to get better. Almost a whole year! She had to go through a lot of therapy to learn how to talk and walk normally again. During this time, Julia started thinking a lot about life and what she believed in. It was a tough time, but it made her question and think about the world differently.
After she recovered, she met some people who cared a lot about the environment during a trip to California, she. They were protesting against a company called Pacific Lumber Co. This company was cutting down ancient redwood trees. They had started cutting more trees after a man named Charles Hurwitz took over the company in 1985.
When she saw the big, old trees for the first time, she felt like she was in a special place, like a sacred temple. She felt like she had found what she was looking for spiritually. In 1997, there was only a small amount, around three percent, left of the old redwood forest.
“When I entered the ancient redwoods for the first time, I dropped to my knees and began to cry,” Hill wrote in the New York Times. “I connected with a higher purpose for my life. These beautiful forests were being clear-cut, and I wanted to do something.”
At the age of 23, she stayed up in one of the trees for six days. The tree was called Luna and it was on a hill near a small town called Stafford, not far from the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Later, she decided to stay up there for even longer. She made a makeshift home between two platforms tied to the tree, 180 feet above the ground. She stayed there through a very tough winter caused by El Niño, a weather phenomenon.
According to Swarthmore College, Julia had three main goals: to keep Luna safe, to slow down cutting down trees in the area, and to make more people aware of what was happening. After a few days of sitting in the tree, she got sick and had to come down. When the other two people sitting in the trees left weeks later, Julia decided to go back up the 180-foot tree by herself.
Even though Earth First! stopped helping her, Julia kept sitting in the tree. A friend climbed up sometimes to bring her food so she could keep going with her activism. The employees of Pacific Lumber Co. and its parent company, Maxxam Corporation harassed her and tried to scare her, by flying helicopters close by, cutting down ropes from nearby trees, and putting security guards at the bottom of Luna.
For nearly two years, she felt wet and cold. Strong winds almost blew her away while she slept. People cutting down trees near her bothered and scared her. Sometimes, she felt so uncomfortable and scared that she cried while curled up in a ball.
“I can hold space for people who think I’m a nut job. It’s cool,” Julia said. “But I know from my own experience what I experienced. I know what I learned. I know what I saw. I know what I heard. It was this inner knowing that would arise, and I was clear that it was coming from the nature that I was interacting with.”
While she stayed in Luna’s branches for a long time, longer than anyone else who had done a similar thing, Julia became a news sensation. Some people saw her as a hero, but others didn’t like her and said mean things about her. This shows how disagreements about logging in the North Coast caused a lot of arguments and fights in the 1980s and 90s.
Finally, Pacific Lumber agreed to protect Luna and other nearby trees. In December 1999, Julia and Pacific Lumber reached a mutual agreement. Luna and all other trees within a 200-foot buffer zone would be protected. They agreed to do this after Julia and her supporters raised $50,000. This money was later given to Humboldt State University for research on sustainable forestry.
A group called Sanctuary Forest checks on Luna every month. In 2000, they found that someone had damaged Luna with a chainsaw, leaving a big cut on its side. They had to use metal straps and cables to hold the tree up and help it heal.
After her time in Luna’s branches, Julia went to several countries in Latin America. There, she continued to work as an activist. She enjoyed the warm weather there. Even though she now lives in Nevada City, close to people who are helping her heal, she still keeps in touch with her friends and supporters in Humboldt County.
“Seven billion of us — and counting — are all “activists,” because we’re actively shaping our world. The only question is: Are we conscious activists, or unconscious activists? We see the results of unconscious activism all around us. Virtually every problem is caused by unconscious choices being made over and over and over again. To compound the problem, certain people want the rest of us to be unconscious, because they benefit hugely from it.”
Julia still says Luna was the best teacher and friend she ever had. She felt a strong connection with Luna, even when they were high up in a tree. “It’s not that I got used to it,” she explained, “but I started to trust Luna and how we communicated.” This connection with Luna and nature made her feel something powerful.
In her book “The Legacy of Luna,” she wrote about feeling a lot of love one day when she prayed. This love made her feel better when she was feeling down. She realized it was the love of the Earth and everything in it. Even though people harm nature, it still gives us life because it loves us.
So, what would Julia “Butterfly” Hill do now? She’d probably start by planting hope. “Even if you’re the only one left, as long as you keep hoping and taking action, hope stays alive in the world.
