Julia Butterfly Hill
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Julia Butterfly Hill kept a tree-top vigil on a tarp-covered platform to stop Maxxam/Pacific Lumber Company from completing a timber harvest plan that dooms the 1,000-year-old redwood tree she called Luna. The grove she saved was not among the trees saved in the much-criticized Headwaters agreement signed earlier this year by the state and federal governments and Charles Hurwitz's Maxxam Corporation. |
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In fact, that agreement permanently protected a mere 4% of Pacific Lumber's land for future generations. Julia Butterfly received many distinguished visitors during her time aloft, from Woody Harrelson to Buddhist monks to Native American leaders. Musician Bonnie Raitt dedicated her California Music Awards' "Lifetime Achievement Award" to Julia Butterfly Hill in 1999, and then ascended Luna with Joan Baez to present it to her. During the time she spent in perch in Luna, Julia conducted over a thousand interviews via cell phone. She is the first tree-sitter to have journalists visit for a face-to-face interview. She was named one of the 20 Most Fascinating Women in Politics by George Magazine in a list that included Hillary Clinton, Madeline Albright, and Senator Diane Feinstein. She has written a piece in the current issue of Cosmopolitan and contributed an op-ed for the New York Times Magazine's December 12 edition. Julia recently completed a book detailing her experience titled "The Legacy of Luna," scheduled for release by Harper San Franscisco this spring. She is a featured commentator on Outdoor Life Network's environmental news show "The Thin Green Line." |
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