How a Butterfly saved a Giant

Is this my last moment?

This question sprang to the terrified mind of twenty five year old Julia Hill alias “Butterfly” during that dramatic night in February 1999, when a fierce storm threw her around violently in the top of the Redwood tree called Stafford Giant (or Luna) in which she had squatted since December 1997. Around her major branches were ripped off, some of the eight fixtures of the platform had already cracked, and the tarps, previously offering at least some kind of protection, had been shredded and were flapping around in storm and hail. Of course, she could have climbed out of the tree but, by doing so, she would have betrayed a promise that she had given to herself and Luna. And she was by no means ready to do that!

Why, for heaven’s sake, does a Butterfly confront a tornado?

In January 1997 a muddy landslide, initiated by intensive logging by the Pacific Lumber Company (PL), went down from the hills and wiped out seven homes of the little town Stafford, California. It was with great horror when the following October people heard again the noise of chainsaws echoing from the hills: another clear-cut operation.

In order to protect the Stafford Giant, the only remaining Redwood tree on the hills with an estimated age of 1500-1800 years and a diameter of almost 5 meter on the ground, Daniel climbed into the top. These magnificent trees reach more than 60 meters into the sky, and live up to 2000 years: wonders of nature. Not too long ago, Redwood forests extended from central California north to southern Oregon. However, today intense felling has left only remainders and even these are still being ransacked.

After Daniel had managed to spend some days in the tree, a platform was hastily fixed at a height of 50 meters and covered with tarps. A series of activists stayed in this lofty “home”, the last one in December 1997 being Julia. Did she know at the time what she had let herself in for? Certainly not, because due to a fast escalating hardening of positions, PL tried to starve her out, attacked her by floodlights and intensive megaphone-blare and even hired an enormous helicopter that shook her around with gusts of more then 100 km/h. In vain! The young woman did not blink!

Of course, the press loved this story and the small butterfly had to learn in a hurry to handle the giant “Media”. Many journalists visited Julia and she gave long telephone interviews and became a famous teleguest in talkshows.

The newborn media-star is in trouble

But all these achievements became unimportant during that night when Julia had to fight for her life, together with Luna in whom she confided: “I don’t know what’s happening here. I don’t want to go down, because I made a pact with you. But I can’t be strong now. I’m frightenend out of my mind, Luna, I’m losing it! I’m going crazy!” And then, as Julia reported later, the incredible happened in that the tree started communicating with the young woman: “Julia, think of the trees in the storm. The trees in the storm don’t try to stand up straight and tall and erect. They allow themselves to bend and be blown with the wind. They understand the power of letting go. Now is not the time for you to be strong, Julia… let it flow. Let it go…”

In a later interview Julia explained that during that night she gave her life to the universe: “Use me as a vessel completely to be a part of making this world a better place. And when I die I will die doing what I know is right!”

From that point on a complete and total change occurred.

Julia and Luna had not only survived without any harm but in the following months secret negotiations with PL finally took place. After a lot of time consuming complications, an agreement was reached so that Julia could climb down on 19 December 1999 - after holding the protest-world record. The report of an eye witness reads as follows: “In one of the most touching minutes … Julia’s feet touched the ground, she fell to her knees and collapsed weeping. After a long moment she got up, stretched her arms towards the tree and cried: ‘We did it’…. No eye remained dry.”

Julia did not waste any time

Only two days later she stated in a talkshow: “A lot of people look at me almost as a mythological creature but such power lies in each and every one of us. And all we have to do is tap into it and recognize that it is within ourselves to make incredible change. The corporate and political power has made us feel powerless, but the strength of the individual and the energy of the universe can outweigh any other force! All they have to do is look inside and find it. That’s what I have trying to make people understand! Of course, each and every one of us can work wonders, but if we join our hearts, thoughts and souls only the sky is the limit.”

The complete story about the record in tree squatting can be read in “The Legacy of Luna” by Julia Butterfly Hill, Harper San Francisco, ISBN 0-06-251658-2