JULIA LORRAINE „BUTTERFLY“ HILL    

* February 1974 in Mount Vernon, Missouri

Hill climbed a California coast redwood on 10 December 1997, named it “Luna”, and lived there for 738 days to prevent its felling by the Pacific Lumber Company.
As a child, Julia lived with her parents and two brothers in a motorhome, which meant she learned very early on to explore nature and to love it.

At the age of 22, she was involved in a serious car accident that left her skull injured by the steering wheel. After a lengthy recovery, she worked several odd jobs and was, among other things, a model. However, she felt her life lacked meaning, and when she became aware of the logging of the coast redwoods in California, she chose civil disobedience — and tree-sitting.

On 10 December 1997, she climbed a redwood tree, which she named LUNA, not realising at the time that she would not set foot on the ground again for nearly two years.
An eight-person team supported her from the ground, but the struggle on the four-square-metre platform, 60 metres above the earth, she had to face alone — through summer and winter.

Pacific Lumber repeatedly attempted to drive her from the tree, for instance by flying large transport helicopters dangerously close, generating violent winds. The company also denied her support team access to the site, preventing food and supplies from being delivered to Julia above.
Snow, cold, winds, and storms also posed life-threatening dangers.

In 1999, the activists reached an agreement with the company that all trees within a 12,000-square-metre area would be preserved. Julia then descended from the tree after 738 days. In addition, 50,000 dollars in donations were paid to Pacific Lumber.

I truly cannot imagine the courage and determination required for such an action. It is hard to grasp what compels a person to live alone at a dizzying height for two years, to defy the harsh conditions, and to remain hopeful.
But as she once said herself:
“No one else was willing to do it, so they chose me.”