Women's History Month Profile: Julia Hill

An American Hero: Julia Butterfly Hill

On Dec. 10, 1997, a 23-year-old woman named Julia "Butterfly" Hill climbed into a 180-foot-tall California Coast Redwood tree. Her aim was to prevent the destruction of the tree and of the forest where it had lived for a millennium. Her action epitomized the tradition of Mahatma Ghandi. She put her own life on the line to save the life of a forest that was under immediate threat of destruction.
----quoted from the Ecology Hall of Fame


Julia has had the nickname “Butterfly” since she was a child. She got it when the family was taking a hike one day and a butterfly landed on her and stayed with her the entire time. She has always been attracted to butterflies and they have been a powerful symbol of going inside one’s cocoon to emerge beautiful.
----quoted from Wikipedia

"I understand to some people, I'm just a dirty, tree-hugging hippie, but I can't imagine being able to take a chainsaw to something like this."
---Julia Butterfly Hill, quoted on the My Hero Project website.


On December 18, 1999 Julia Butterfly Hill, then 26, came down to a world that recognized her as a heroine and powerful voice for the environment. Her courage, commitment and profound clarity in articulating a message of hope, empowerment, and love and respect for all life has inspired millions of people worldwide. ----quoted from the Circle of Life, website.


The radical environmental organization Earth First! supported Butterfly's act of civil disobedience. Wikipedia describes the agreement that was reached which finally brought Hill's days living in a tree called Luna to an end:
A resolution was reached in 1999 when the Pacific Lumber Company agreed to preserve Luna and all trees within a 3-acre buffer zone. In exchange, Hill agreed to vacate the tree. In addition, $50,000 that Hill and other activists raised during the cause was given to the logging company (a somewhat controversial action amongst fellow activists), as stipulated by the resolution. The $50,000 Earth First! paid to Pacific Lumber was then donated to a local university to do research about sustainable forestry.