Stories of trees shape our history which shapes our present – we are who we are today because of where we were yesterday, and trees have played an important role in our history and our current one.
Trees were there at the very beginning of our story. They serve as a memory stick, holding the years of our lives on it but, more than that, their story so often links to the human story, with both us and trees being central protagonists, that it becomes our shared story. We feature in each other’s chapters.
The story of Luna, a 1500-year-old Coastal Redwoodfrom Stafford, California and her saviour, Julia Butterfly Hill, is one such example. In 1997, when logging threatened old growth treesin Redwood Forest, 23-year-old activist Julia Butterfly Hill climbed theancient redwood named Luna and lived 180 ft up on a tented platform in her canopy for two years in protest.
During her 738 days tree-sit, the young activistendured icy rain and 40mph winds from El Niño, harassment from helicopters flying overhead and threats from angry loggers on the ground. Yet still she staged her protest, giving radio interviews to intrigued international mediavia a solar-powered phone and reporting as an ‘in-tree’ correspondent for a cable TV show.
The Pacific Lumber Company finally concededand agreed to spare Luna and surrounding trees in a 200ft buffer zone inexchange for a $50k payment for lost logging revenue (raised by Earth First andother activists) which was later donated later to sustainable forestry researchby Humboldt State University.
Julia’s own story shifted trajectory when anear-fatal car accident left her with a head injury which required intensive therapyto help her learn to speak and walk again.
During the year-long period ofrecuperation that followed, Julia reflected on her life so far and found thather obsession with “career, success and material things,” was out of balance.
“The crash woke me up to the importance of the moment and doing whatever Icould to make a positive impact on the future," says Julia in Dawn Fitzgerald’s book about her quest.[1] With a fresh outlook on life and a desire to makeeach moment count, Julia attendeda forest-saving fundraiser and got to know a group of tree-sitters from EarthFirst who were protesting clear-cut logging of redwoods on the northern Californian coast. Having learned that only three per cent of the ancient redwood ecosystem remained, when the opportunity arose to take action to protect these ancient trees by tree-sitting for a few weeks herself, she seized the moment.
Three weeks became two years and eight days as she refused to come out of the tree “until the company agreed toprotect Luna and the surrounding grove." Volunteers delivered food and supplies. Julia’s actions saved not only Luna but raisedawareness about the dire situation of old growth forests and contributed to thedecline of logging them. In doing so her story became interwoven in Luna’sstory and the story of the Redwood Forest forever.
And while senseless vandals cut three foot and halfway through Luna’s trunk in 2000, a herbal remedy was used to treat the cut and steel brackets and cables stabilized her. Thankfully, Luna continues to thrive with new growth reported. One woman’s bold actions made a difference.
The Original Tree Hugger and Saviour
267 years prior, another woman saved the trees sheloved from being felled. Her story and that of the precious trees her and hersupporters saved are forever intertwined and provide the origins of tree hugging.
Once upon a time in 1730, a group of women spoke upfor the trees and paid the price of protesting to save their woodland withtheir lives. Yet, in paying the ultimate price, they saved trees from being felled from that moment on and for hundreds of years.
The story begins with the Maharajah who ordered someancient Khejri trees be felled so he could build his new palace in their place.The palace would be built in Khejarli, a village outside Jodhpur, which was also home to the Bishnoi. This community of nature worshippers were led by Guru Jambheshwar or Jambhoji who,since 1485 had sworn to always protect and never cut green trees.
Dismayed at the destruction of sacred ancient trees,loyal Bishnoi mother, Amita Devri and other female members of the tribepeacefully protested by wrapping their arms and legs round the Khejri trunks in a bid to protect their beloved trees, saying the soldiers would need to cut through her first if they wished to fell the trees. Tragically, they did just that, and then continued to axe to death the 353 villagers who, incensed by the killing of Amita and the tree, joined the protest.
The brutality of his soldiers appalledthe Maharajah, while the dedication of the villagers inspired him, so he called a stop to the brutality and passed a law, which still stands to this day, protecting green trees.
The stories of Amita Devri and Julia Butterfly Hill (nicknamed Butterfly after one landed on her finger when she was six and stayed on her hand for an entire hike) are intrinsically linked to the human story.
The same is true of trees who are important protagonists in stories of discovery which have impacted how we see and know the world. Read more stories in TREE GLEE: How and why trees make us feel better. [1] [6] Dawn Fitzgerald (2002). Julia Butterfly Hill: Saving the Redwoods. Lerner Publications. ISBN 978-0-7613-2654-0.