LETTERS FROM HOME: 'BUTTERFLY' HILL: AMAZING WOMAN IN THE REDWOOD TREE

Dec. 9, 1999

Dear Ken,

On New Year's Day nearly three years ago, a massive mudslide near a Northern California town called Stafford destroyed and damaged some homes. The land above the slide is owned by the Pacific Lumber Co., the environmentalist's version of the Evil Empire.

Pacific Lumber Co. owns the last stands of old-growth redwoods left in the world, the Headwaters Grove being the most valuable environmentally. A tentative agreement between the company and the state and federal government would spare the grove from the chainsaw but at a huge cost. The other ancient groves in the Headwaters Forest probably would be leveled.

Two years ago, a 23-year-old woman named Julia "Butterfly" Hill climbed a 1,000-year-old redwood tree next to the mudslide she says was caused by Pacific Lumber's clearcutting. She has refused to come down until assured the tree she calls "Luna" won't be cut down, but her aim is to draw attention to forestry practices that maim the Earth.

So began her life 180 feet in the air perched on a 6-by-8-foot platform protected only by some tarps. Hill uses a hand-cranked radio to listen to the news and a cell phone to talk to family, friends and the media. A margarine tub and a bucket are her toilet, candles provide light and she cooks on a propane stove. Food and water are raised to her by rope.

She writes poetry and hangs tight.

Stafford is near some of my old homes in Northern California. Wednesday night, Joan Baez and Bonnie Raitt played a benefit for Hill at the Mateel Center in Southern Humboldt County. DC and I used to go to dances there when we lived in Garberville.

But Hill can't attend her own benefits. If Pacific Lumber can't get her down with helicopters and floodlights, a concert won't do it.

Thursday nights, my friend Julie hosts a talk show on KHSU-FM, the region's public radio station. Hill is tonight's guest. Since I couldn't go to the Baez-Raitt concert or listen to the talk show, I tried to call Hill myself.

The folks at KHSU and at KMUD, my old favorite radio station in Garberville, tried to help out but Hill's phone line was jammed Wednesday night, probably because Friday is the second anniversary of her tree-sit. I settled for a visit to her website, www.lunatree.org

There Hill says she spent Christmas night "gazing at the stars and eating pasta." A month later, the worst storms in California history hit the North Coast. One night "the wind was howling like a crazy, wild animal the most intense noise I've ever heard," she recounts.

As the 23-year-old woman held onto the redwood tree for her life, she says Luna spoke to her:

"She said, Bend, flow and let go, and I'll take care of you. I felt such peace."

There is something crazy and heroic about what Hill is doing. Spending two years in a tree for a cause goes far beyond a stunt. It is, as she has recognized, akin to a spiritual quest.

From one of Hill's poems, "Offerings to Luna":

I lay nestled in Her arms

I listen to all She has to say

She speaks to me through my

bare feet.... my hands

She speaks to me on the

wind ... and in the rain

telling me stories born long

before my time

Wisdom

as only Ancient Elders know...

Love, Sam