Julia Butterfly Hill
Application Assignment #3
Julia butterfly hill (also known as Julia Lorraine Hill) is an environmental activist best known for living in an over 1000-year-old California redwood tree named Luna. Julia lived in this tree for 738 days from December 10th, 1997 to December 18th, 1999 as an act of civil disobedience in an effort to save the tree from being cut down by the Pacific lumber company. Her main goal was to bring awareness to and prevent the destruction of ancient, ecologically significant forests like the one Luna was a part of. During her time in the tree, she primarily lived on two six-by-six platforms roughly 180 feet above the ground. In one interview, she admitted to rarely washing the bottoms of her feet as the tree sap helped her stick to the branches she would climb daily. Julia would receive food from friends family and her supporters, her food deliveries were once stopped by the Pacific lumber company security forcing her to eat tree bark. Eventually, an agreement was made between Julia and the Pacific lumber company to leave Luna (the tree) alone as well as a 200-foot perimeter around the base of the tree, where she remains standing to this day. Julia butterfly hill then went on to publish several books and founded the Circle of life foundation, an organization that aims to “ promote sustainability, restoration, and preservation of life in all its forms by supporting and networking individuals and organizations that are creating social and environmental solutions.” the circle of life foundation is also committed to “transforming human interactions with nature”.
Carl-John Veraja Cropped from https://www.flickr.com/photos/45212072@N00/306079940/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julia-Butterfly-Hill
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Butterfly_Hill
https://www.treesisters.org/post/story-julia-butterfly-hill
Zachary RunningWolf is an activist who organized a tree sit on the campus of the University of California Berkeley in an attempt to stop the university from clearcutting a grove of coastal oak trees to make room for a new athletic training facility for university students. The students participating in the tree sit tried to get the university to consider building the athletic training facility in an area that would not require the cutting of the coastal oaks however the university refused and planned to go ahead with the clearcutting. The tree sit ran from December 2, 2006, to September 9, 2008. In September 2007 the University of California Berkeley reported that there were 155 rule violations and 98 arrests or citations from police in connection with the tree sit. By April 5, 2008, the protest had generated over 200 police reports, most of which had been filed against protesters of the athletic training facility, and the cost of operations for the University police department had reached $300,000 in an attempt to stop the protesters. While his reasoning for the tree sits was a little bit different from Julia Butterfly Hills' reasoning protecting trees is always a good thing in my opinion. Zachary RunningWolf claimed that the “ Illuminati and the Masons are conspiring to build the center because "the grove is at the intersection of compass lines connecting the Haas School of Business (money) with Alcatraz (state violence) and the Lawrence Berkeley lab that gave America nukes". This is obviously an out-there claim but a majority of the protesters participating in the tree sit were there simply to protect the trees being threatened by the university.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Berkeley_oak_grove_controversy
On February 14, 2000, former President Bill Clinton announced 18.6 million dollars in Forest Legacy grants for 29 projects, this money would go on to protect 250,000 acres of valuable forest land in 19 states and U.S. territories. These grants are used to “protect private forestland that provides critical wildlife habitat and is threatened by development. Protected lands can continue to be used for forestry and other compatible activities.” The Forest Legacy Program (FLP) was established in the year 1990 through an amendment of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act (CFAA) of 1978, according to the US Department of Agriculture “The purpose of the FLP is to identify and protect environmentally important private forestlands that are threatened by conversion to nonforest uses and provide the opportunity for the continuation of traditional forest uses, such as forest management activities and outdoor recreation.” When the forest legacy program was originally authorized in the 1990 Farm Bill, FLPs were started and approved in Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington. the majority of the United State's forested land is under private ownership, due to the increasing pressures on landowners to convert their forested land into other uses such as timber harvesting and farmland. The enaction of this bill was so significant because before people with large amounts of forested land had very little incentive to preserve the natural environment of said land, many people in the possession of valuable land saw it as a way they could make money. According to the bill, “Good stewardship of privately held forest lands requires a long-term commitment that can be fostered through a partnership of Federal, State, local government, and individual efforts”. With the help of forest legacy grants who own property with ecologically significant forests can receive money from these grants in order to maintain the natural biodiversity and ecosystem on their land. This bill being enacted has a strong connection to Julia Butterfly Hill because it protects valuable forest ecosystems, something that she has made a career of trying to accomplish. It's also significant that there was a large amount of grant money announced in February 2000, just months after she finished her stay in the California redwood tree, it shows that her work was influential and got the people and the government thinking about forest conservation.
https://clintonwhitehouse4.archives.gov/CEQ/earthday/ch13.html
Julia Butterfly Hill had has many supporters over the years and there's no doubt that she brought awareness to a very serious and prevalent issue in an eye-catching way. However, there are some people with valid criticisms of her. For example, some of her fellow California redwood activists claim she has become “marketed and merchandised” following the release of several books and the attendance of fundraising dinners. Others have said that she has left the “tree sit” community behind and started focusing on topics that aren't as important to her original supporters, some even say she has failed to articulate a cohesive message at all speaking vaguely about respecting nature and conservation. One former supporter even went as far as stating “She started talking about respect and love instead of the forests.” Julia Butterfly Hill also received negative reactions from fellow activists as a result of how publicized and iconic her tree sit was becoming. Julia was not been involved with the Redwoods campaign before her climb up Luna, as a result, some people became angry that she was getting so much media attention and fame she received she was even accused of participating in the movement for the sole purpose of gaining celebrity status. Groups like Earth First And the Environmental Protection Information Center which had been working to protect the redwood forests for years, often went unmentioned and unrecognized when news outlets and journals would interview or cover Julia's story. There are arguably both positive and negative contributions that Julia butterfly hill brought to the redwood consternation movement, she saved Luna, with a lot of help from the activists who did ground support and legal outreach often with no recognition. However, she, brought a face to the issue making it easier for people to be sympathetic to the cause and the concept of civil disobedience for the purpose of the redwood forests.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jan-20-tm-24151-story.html
https://www.kcet.org/redefine/julia-butterfly-hill-made-redwoods-a-global-issue
One of the biggest and most important impacts that the work of Julia butterfly hill has had on people living in Keene has been the awareness she brought of the importance of native forests ecosystems and the trees within them. Without the activism of Julia who knows how many important areas of forested land would've been destroyed with very little public disapproval. Without government funding like the forest legacy program and grants (which gave money to the state of New Hampshire), the forests in Keene might've been cut down years ago leaving almost nothing behind including hundreds of native species of animals important to the ecology of Keene. While the work of Julia Butterfly Hill probably did not have a direct effect on the town of Keene or its forest, she did make so many more people in the late 90s and early 2000s feel a sense of responsibility for how their forests and trees were being treated and protected.
Julia Hill really decided to take the expression tying themselves to a tree to a whole new level. Reading about her work to save a singular California redwood tree is awe-inspiring, to think she spent nearly 2 years living a top a California redwood to prevent it from being cut down is undoubtedly insane and really inspiring. It's captivating to see the lengths environmentalists will go to protect our ecosystems and wildlife, while laying down their own lives to protect it. I really enjoyed your post, this was one of the most interesting reads out of the half dozen I've already read. The post was very intriguing, it kept me wanting to know more about Julia the more you explained her work and what she's done for the environment. The only thing I would've like to see more of in this post is more images showing tree-sitters, I originally had no idea people would actually go up into the trees and stay there, I always pictured tree-sitting to be something as stereotypical as tying yourself to the base of the trunk.
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