Julia Butterfly Hill

Julia Lorraine Hill (known as Julia Butterfly Hill, born February 18, 1974) is an American environmental activist and tax redirection advocate.

In August 1996, at age 22, she suffered a near-fatal car crash.

At the time, Hill was acting as the designated driver for a friend who had been drinking.

Her friend's car was hit from behind by a drunk driver.

The steering wheel of the car penetrated her skull.

It took almost a year of intensive therapy before she regained the ability to speak and walk normally.

She said:

"As I recovered, I realized that my whole life had been out of balance... I had graduated high school at 16, and had been working nonstop since then, first as a waitress, then as a restaurant manager. I had been obsessed by my career, success, and material things. The crash woke me up to the importance of the moment, and doing whatever I could to make a positive impact on the future. The steering wheel in my head, both figuratively and literally, steered me in a new direction in my life."

Hill embarked on a spiritual quest afterward, leading her to the environmental cause opposed to the destruction of the redwood forests in Humboldt County, California.

After recuperating from her accident, Hill took a road trip to California and attended a reggae fundraiser to save the forests.

A group of "front-liners" had been rotating tree sitters in and out of giant redwoods in Humboldt County every couple of days to stave off Pacific Lumber Co. loggers who were clear-cutting.

The trees were on a windswept ridge overlooking the community of Stafford, which is south of Scotia.

On New Year's Eve 1996, a landslide in Stafford caused by clearcut logging by Pacific Lumber Company (Maxxam) on steep slopes above the community resulted in most of the community being buried up to 17 ft in mud and tree debris; eight homes were completely destroyed.

Organizers wanted someone to stay in the tree for one week.

"Nobody else would volunteer so they had to pick me", said Hill.

Originally, Hill was not officially affiliated with any environmental organization, deciding by herself to undertake civil disobedience.

Soon, she was actively supported by Earth First!, among other organizations, and by volunteers.

She is best known for having lived in a 200 ft-tall, approximately 1000-year-old California redwood tree for 738 days between December 10, 1997, and December 18, 1999.

Hill lived in the tree, affectionately known as Luna, to prevent Pacific Lumber Company loggers from cutting it down.

She ultimately reached an agreement with the lumber company to save that tree.

She is the author of the book The Legacy of Luna and co-author of One Makes the Difference.

Hill's father was a traveling minister who went from town to town, bringing his family with him.

Until she was about ten years old, Hill lived in a 32 ft camper with her father Dale, mother Kathy, and brothers Mike and Dan.

Julia is the middle child.

While traveling with her family, Hill often explored rivers by campgrounds.

When Hill was seven years old, she and her family were taking a hike one day when a butterfly landed on her finger and stayed with her for the duration of the hike.

From that day on, her nickname became "Butterfly".

She decided to use that as her nickname for the rest of her life.

When Hill was in middle school, her family stopped traveling and settled in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

On December 10, 1997, Hill ascended a 1,000-year-old lightning-struck redwood tree named Luna, also referred to as the "Stafford Giant" due to its proximity to the small community of Stafford, to a height of 180 ft. As the Moon was rising at the time, activists chose the name Luna, the Latin word for Moon, to commemorate the event:

"An hour and a half after reaching the base of the tree, we got the last of the provisions up. By then it was midnight. Finally, I was able to put on the harness and ascend Luna. It seemed an exhausting eternity before I reached the top. When I finally got there, I untangled myself from the harness and looked around for a place to collapse."

Hill lived on two 6 by platforms for 738 days.

She learned many survival skills while living in Luna, such as "seldom washing the soles of her feet, because the sap helped her feet stick to the branches better."

She used solar-powered cell phones for radio interviews, became an "in-tree" correspondent for a cable television show, and hosted TV crews to protest old-growth clear cutting.

With ropes, Hill hoisted up survival supplies brought by an eight-member support crew.

To keep warm, she wrapped herself tight in a sleeping bag, leaving only a small hole for breathing.

For meals, she used a single-burner propane stove.

Throughout her ordeal, she weathered freezing rains and 40 mi/h winds from El Niño, helicopter harassment, a ten-day siege by company security guards and attempted intimidation by angry loggers.

A resolution was reached in 1999 when the Pacific Lumber Company agreed to preserve Luna and all trees within a 200 ft buffer zone.

In exchange, Hill agreed to vacate the tree.