luna & Me: The True story of a girl
who lived in a tree to save a forest
Once there was a redwood tree—one of the world's largest and tallest trees, and one of the oldest. And once, born nearly a thousand years after the tree first took root, there was a girl named Julia, who was called Butterfly.
When exploring her beloved forest, Butterfly wandered into a grove of ancient trees. One tree had broken branches and a big blue "X" on the side. It was going to be chopped down. Butterfly climbed up into the tree. A tree wouldn't be cut down if it had a person living in it. This is the story of Julia Butterfly Hill and Luna, the redwood tree she lived in for two years, never once coming down. That is, not until Luna's future was safe.
Santa Monica Public Library GREEN PRIZE for SUSTAINABLE LITERATURE 2016
Christy Ottaviano Books
Henry Holt and Co. / ISBN : 9780805099768
Ancient One
who makes all things new
may we receive with gentleness
and touch with hopefulness
and protect with fierceness
and love with tenderness;
and may we celebrate with gratefulness
and welcome with humbleness
and tend with gracefulness
all that you give
into our care.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Blog entry 5.23. 13
We just returned from 8 days camping in the ancient Redwood Forest. I had never been in these forests before. How does one try to describe? I was, and still am, in awe. It was beyond the beyond.
I have walked and backpacked in different forests, and they all have their own spirit and energy. The Redwoods were very different. Many of these trees were over a thousand years old. Some were 2000 years old. Some wer 200 feet tall! Some were over 350 feet tall! Silence washed over us as we entered the sacred Redwoods — a silence filled with awe, gratitude, wonder…and then Tulsi sighed, “Wowwwww” ever so softly with her head tilted back as far as it could go. This forest also emptied me and gifted me new perspective. Have you seen that photo of the deep sea diver pictured before the most gigantic whale? There is no fear, only amazement and respect. And it feels mutual, or so it seems to me when I’ve looked at that photo. Walking among, sitting before, and lying under these 200 to 380 feet tall ancient trees was, for me, like living out this whale photo. A magical stillness and love.
When I visit with kids in schools, they always ask about inspiration — what inspires my books and what fills me. I always say “nature, travel, and personal experiences & relationships”. One of the books I wrote about in my last post is now contracted with my publisher (yippee!) and I’ll be diving into the finished illustrations this summer. I spent the second half of last year researching, writing, editing and drawing a dummy for this book. If you haven’t guessed by now — it takes place IN the Redwoods.
A good part of what inspired this book is my love for nature and the environment, and while I was able to do “enough” research through the internet, books and film initially, I needed more to bring the book to life. I needed, and longed for, a personal experience that would connect my heart to the story in a powerful way.
So, when I asked Patrick and Tulsi to go camping with me for a week in the name of research, they wholeheartedly and enthusiastically supported me!
We packed 4 huge duffel bags with all our camping gear, flew to CA, rented a minivan, and headed north. We spent several days exclusively in the forest discovering fairy houses and fairy RINGS, elf steps and Redwood goosepens(!). We found creatures in the meandering grooves of the Redwood trunks. There were orange ladybugs, electric red spiders, and hairy caterpillars. AND, we petted EVERY single banana slug that we came across. Just looking at photos on Google, how would I know the way banana slugs shyly hide their entire heads inside “hoodies”?
I read a book and wrote a lot. Tulsi and I also sat on the soft forest floor and painted, “to remember”.
We then camped a few nights ON the coast where the ocean meets wide beaches with crazy steep cliffs often hiding under sleepy fog blankets. Elk roamed freely and trails led us up to lush Redwood forests covered in moss, ferns, salmon berries and monkey flowers! I wanted to stay there. And the ocean — oh, the Ocean! After I let go of my fear of Tsunami’s, I slept like a baby. Imagine the 3 of us tucked into a cocoon made of two sleeping bags zipped together and the ocean lulling us to sleep. If this adventure sounds like a fairytale, it was. :)
I love dirt and sun on my face, dipping my feet in creeks, rivers, oceans and wet moss, and mostly getting out of our little world.
There was more, too, and I’ll share that story once my book is finished. I feel full to the moon with inspiration and magic that I pray will spill out as I paint. And again and again, I pray the prayer above.
And you? Have you been to the Redwoods? Do you have a favorite forest on this beautiful earth that fills your whole being? A forest with a tree that perhaps you’d climb up in and live in to save its magic and beauty and life?
While researching Luna and Me, my family and I trekked to California to visit Luna and the redwoods! Stuart Moskowitz of Sanctuary Forest, and prime caretaker of Luna, shared the story of a vandal who tried to cut Luna down nearly a year after Julia came down. During our day with Luna, we packed the cut with the bear-saliva-clay-medicine that has been used for 14 years as instructed by a Cherokee Bear Medicine Healer. Luna’s bark has grown over the gaping cut in places and continues to heal!
Learning from Luna by Stuart Moskowitz, 2002
More than a year has passed since somebody cut halfway through Luna with a chain saw. But because of the efforts of an incredible group of volunteers, an ever-grow- ing amount of worldwide support, and most of all Luna’s own remarkable efforts to regain her bal- ance, Luna still stands tall.
I’ve learned a lot from Luna. I’m a math teacher. I am also on the board of Sanctuary Forest, a Humboldt County land trust. When Julia Butterfly climbed down from Luna, Sanctuary Forest became trustee of an agreement between Julia and Pacific Lumber Company, and I began my role as primary monitor/caretaker of this “Luna Covenant.”
When we first learned of the attack, we knew we had to do whatever was nec- essary to save Luna. We were concerned about Luna’s biological health, but more pressing, we were concerned about Luna’s structural stability. With the first of the winter’s storms in the immediate forecast, we knew we had to act fast to keep Luna from toppling in the wind.
Redwood arborist Dennis Yniguez designed the brackets seen in many press photographs. These brackets function as “butterfly bandages,” fastened above and below the saw cut to minimize Luna’s movements.
These brackets are a testimony to Luna’s strength as well as her influence. While it was Dennis who designed them, the brackets were manufactured by Pacific Lumber employees in their metal fabrica- tion shop, then installed by volunteers from Sanctuary Forest, along with Pacific Lumber and California Department of Forestry employees. This all was complet- ed in one long day, just as the storm arrived! Even more remarkable, the work was done by conservationists, loggers, and government agents working side by side!
This incredible collaboration was just beginning. Luna’s stature as an interna- tional symbol for the need to protect our forests was far greater than I had imag- ined. While the brackets helped stabilize Luna, more was needed. As the coordina- tor of the “medical response team,” I began receiving phone calls from people all over the world offering help.
After much collaboration and discus- sion, we chose to complete the structural work using the design of engineer Steve Salzman. Tree climbers (led by redwood canopy biologist Dr. Steve Sillett and South American canopy expert Paul Donahue) installed a steel cable “collar” around Luna’s main trunk 100 feet above the ground. Four cables radiate from this col- lar and are attached with turnbuckles to four remote anchor points 100-150 feet away. With this cable assembly in place, Luna should be able to withstand the fiercest of storms.
Restoring Luna’s biological health required a totally different approach. With the help of Cherokee Bear Medicine Healer Byron Jordan, we used local clay to seal the cut. Byron explained how Native Americans used healing clay on plants and animals since pre-historic times. This ended the initial phase of treatment.
I continue to visit and monitor Luna at least once each month. The clay needs repacking every few months, as it dries, cracks, then gets washed by rain. The cables needed adjust- ing and tightening once last summer.
Most important, I continue to watch Luna’s overall health. The biolo- gists told us that, due to the loss of moisture and nutrient flow, we should expect extensive dieback of Luna’s foliage. It was predicted that Luna would lose her crown within two to five years. But they also reassured us that, while Luna could change dramatically, she might also continue to live for many (possibly hundreds) of years.
I take photographs of Luna’s crown every month. In the summer of 2001, I documented the browning of needles at the very top of Luna. I thought I was watching the beginning of this predicted dieback. I appreciated Dennis Yniguez’ reassuring words to understand how “Luna is responding with the wisdom of more than 100 million years of evolution” in order to regain her balance.
But as I continued watching Luna through the summer and into the dry months of fall, I learned that the wisdom Dennis spoke of also includes strength and resilience. Luna did not continue losing her needles. The browning I witnessed during the summer was the result of the annual loss of needles that happens to every conifer. Luna looks as green and lush as she did before the attack. She looks strong. Even the land within the three-acre circle that marks the “Luna Property” is looking better and better.
Julia Butterfly and her support team turned Luna into a worldwide symbol of the need to protect old growth forests. Ironically, the chain-saw attacker has broadened the meaning of Luna’s symbol- ism. In the face of adversity, Luna represents balance, strength, and resilience.
