California: Julia Butterfly Descends from Redwood Tree-Sit
12/19/99
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Title: Julia Butterfly Descends
Source: Environment News Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 19, 1999
STAFFORD, California, December 19, 1999 (ENS) - After two years and
eight days living on a tiny platform under a tarp 180 feet on top of
a California redwood tree, Julia Butterfly Hill finally descended to
earth on Saturday. Her descent ended the longest tree occupation in
American history.
Hill came down from the old growth redwood she was protecting with
her life after making a deal with the lumber company that owns the
tree so that it would not be logged.
Hill agreed to pay $50,000 to Pacific Lumber Company to spare the
giant redwood she named Luna and a 250 foot circle around it from
logging. Hill's supporters will donate the $50,000 to Pacific Lumber,
which will in turn give the money to Humboldt State University for
forestry research.
The 25 year old tree-sitter who has attracted international attention
to her cause rappelled down to collapse as her bare feet touched soil
for the first time since December 10, 1997. She curled up around the
rope and sobbed wildly.
Hill said she could not imagine why anyone would cut down a creature
are marvelous as Luna, and said anyone who wanted to log a giant
redwood should live in it for two years as she has.
John Campbell, president and CEO of Pacific Lumber Company called it
a unique situation. "We have reached this preservation agreement in
order to end this controversy and focus positive public attention on
Pacific Lumber's very real commitment to the environment, the
community, and job preservation," he said.
Campbell claims to have come to the agreement out of concern for
Hill's health and safety.
"During this time, Pacific Lumber has been deeply concerned about Ms.
Hill's safety as well as the safety of several others who have
followed her example to trespass on the Company's private property in
order to protest," the company said in a statement Saturday.
The company was referring to David Chain who died on Pacific Lumber
property in Northern California in September 1998 when a logger
felled a tree that crushed him while Chain was protesting the logging
of old growth trees near the Headwaters Forest. The incident was
deemed accidental, but Chain's family is pursuing the matter through
the courts.
"Pacific Lumber believes that the controversy surrounding timber
companies and environmentalists on the North Coast must stop, and
that it is imperative that common ground be forged between these two
groups. It hopes and believes that the Preservation Agreement will
work toward this common ground, and help create a peaceful dialogue
between two groups who ultimately care about the same thing - the
future of the North Coast of California," the company said.
Pacific Lumber, owned by the Houston based Maxxam Corporation,
denounced Hill as a trespassing law breaker who put her life in
danger and encouraged others to do so by example. Several times
during her protest, Pacific Lumber officials negotiated with Hill's
representatives. Each time, negotiations broke down amid mutual
recriminations.
Hill was an unemployed drifter, the daughter of an itinerant
preacher, when she joined the forest protest movement that took off
in Humboldt County after Maxxam Corp. bought Pacific Lumber and began
clearcutting large tracts of forests.
On March 1, Maxxam agreed to sell 7,400 acres of its Humboldt County
property to the state and federal governments for $480 million to
preserve the ancient Headwaters grove and other redwood forests. Hill
and other environmentalists criticized the deal for preserving too
little of the forests and paying Maxxam too much.
Hill's account of her tree-sitting experience titled "The Legacy of
Luna," is scheduled for release by Harper San Franscisco next spring.