Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Butterfly in a Redwood Tree
“Butterfly” is the
nickname given to
Julia Hill. This
young woman
spent two years of
her life on a small
platform near the top of a giant red-
wood tree in California to protest
the clear-cutting of a forest of these
ancient trees, some of them more
than 1,000 years old.
She and other protesters were
illegally occupying these trees as a
form of
nonviolent civil disobedience,
similar to that used decades ago by
Mahatma Gandhi in his efforts to
end the British occupation of India.
Butterfly had never participated in
any environmental protest or act of
civil disobedience.
Initially, she went to the site to
express her belief that it was wrong
to cut down these ancient giants for
short-term economic gain, even if
you own them. She planned to stay
for only a few days.
After seeing the destruction and
climbing one of these magnificent
trees, Butterfly ended up staying in
the tree for two years to publicize
what was happening and help save
the surrounding trees. She became a
symbol of the protest and during
her stay used a cell phone to com-
municate with members of the mass
media throughout the world to help
develop public support for saving
the trees.
Can you imagine spending two
years of your life in a tree on a plat-
form not much bigger than a king-
sized bed, hovering 55 meters (180
feet) above the ground and endur-
ing high winds, intense rainstorms,
snow, and ice? And Butterfly was
not living in a quiet pristine forest.
All round her was noise from
trucks, chainsaws, and helicopters
trying to scare her into returning to
the ground.
Although Butterfly lost her
courageous battle to save the sur-
rounding forest, she persuaded
Pacific Lumber MAXXAM to save
her tree (called Luna) and a 60-
meter (200-foot) buffer zone
around it. Not too long after
she descended from her perch,
someone used a chainsaw to seri-
ously damage the tree. Cables and
steel plates are now used to pre-
serve it.
But maybe Butterfly and the
earth did not lose. A topic she
wrote about her stand, and her
subsequent travels to campuses
all over the world, have inspired
a number of young people to
stand up for protecting biodivers-
ity and other environmental
causes.
Butterfly led others by follow-
ing in the tradition of Gandhi,
who said, “My life is my message.”
Would you spend a day or a
week of your life protesting some-
thing that you believed to be
wrong?
INDIVIDUALS
MATTER
Three types of fires can affect forest ecosystems.
Surface fires
(Figure 8-16, left) usually burn only under-
growth and leaf litter on the forest floor. They may kill
seedlings and small trees but spare most mature trees
and allow most wild animals to escape.
Occasional surface fires have a number of ecologi-
cal benefits. They burn away flammable ground mate-
rial and help prevent more destructive fires. They also
release valuable mineral nutrients (tied up in slowly
decomposing litter and undergrowth), stimulate the
Figure 8-16
Surface fires, such as this one in Tifton, Georgia (left), usually burn undergrowth and leaf litter on
aforest floor. They can help prevent more destructive crown fires (right) by removing flammable ground
material. Sometimes carefully controlled surface fires are deliberately set to prevent buildup of flammable
ground material in forests.
