LUNA: October 2015 by Stuart Moskowitz

Sixteen years ago Julia Butterfly Hill came down to the ground after her two year tree-sit in Luna, the 1,000 year old Redwood on the ridge high above Stafford, Humboldt County, California. Julia came down because she achieved the primary goal of her protest: that Luna not be cut into lumber by the Pacific Lumber Company or by any future owner. But Julia achieved much more than the protection of one tree and the surrounding three acre grove. Julia Butterfly’s actions turned Luna into a worldwide symbol of sustainable forestry and showed how one person really can make a difference.

There were those who said that Luna and Julia Butterfly would be forgotten. Sixteen years later the world has not forgotten. Luna continues to speak and the world continues to listen. Now more than ever!

I get asked continuously how Luna is doing. Why me? My name is Stuart and I have been on the Board of Directors of Sanctuary Forest (SFI) since before Julia climbed into Luna’s branches. I was there when Julia came down, I was there when SFI was entrusted with the Luna Agreement, and I have been the primary caretaker and monitor ever since.

I last wrote about Luna in 2007. It’s now time (past time) for another update.

Luna’s base on a recent monitoring trip

I’m not the best storyteller. Thank goodness storytellers remember Luna, too. I’m excited because award winning author and illustrator Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw chose Julia and Luna as the subject of her latest children’s book, Luna and Me, The True Story of a Girl Who Lived in a Tree to Save a Forest (Holt-MacMillan, 2015). This brilliant dialogue between a girl named Butterfly and a tree named Luna strengthens Luna’s message, while the beautiful illustrations bring the story to life for a whole new generation too young to remember. As if this weren’t enough, Jenny Sue donates a portion of her profits to Sanctuary Forest’s Luna Conservation Fund. Copies of Luna and Me are available at bookstores, on the internet, or directly from Sanctuary Forest.

Cover of Luna & Me by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

I mentioned above that Luna speaks and the world listens. In her book Jenny Sue gives Luna a voice. Other writers and storytellers also give Luna a voice. And sometimes people tell me that Luna speaks to them. Just what does that mean? In September 2014, Dutch journalist Anne Walraven, accompanied me to Luna. As a teenager, Anne was profoundly influenced by reading Legacy of Luna, the book written by Julia Butterfly Hill shortly after she descended from Luna. It inspired her to create her “Future Fuel” project, with the goal of focusing “the power of young people as a fuel for the future.” Anne traveled to 4 continents interviewing 15 of the most inspirational people on the planet. After interviewing Julia in Belize, Anne traveled to Humboldt for a visit with Luna. Along the way she asked herself: “Why do I give half of my travel budget and travel four days, just to visit a stupid tree ...?” But then, after a few hours with Luna, Anne writes:

… the longer I remain here, and the more I quiet my mind, the more I feel the energy of this special place. There are no words to describe this energy, I can’t describe it, but it makes me want to endlessly sit leaning against the tree and listen, just listen. To what? My mind squeals this is all crazy, but my heart truly feels the energy and connects with the thousand-year-old wisdom that is rooted in this tree. And while I sit there I realize that this may be the most important insight of my quest for answers: that there exists a deep wisdom, a wisdom without words. (From Anne’s blog at http://futurefuel.nl/wisdom-without-words/?lang=en)

Luna’s wisdom inspires movie makers and photojournalists, too. Hollywood has taken enough of an interest in Luna’s story to send a successful director and actor (who resembles Julia Hill) to visit Luna. Perhaps someday we’ll see a movie about Luna on the big screen?

Meanwhile, a major magazine plans to include Luna in a story about wise trees because, “These wise trees are witnesses to remarkable events in history, inspirations to major achievements, poignant symbols of life’s ability to regenerate itself, and venerated as the spiritual embodiment of divine beings.” Luna certainly fits this description.

Luna’s message reaches far beyond those who expect to read about environmental issues. In 2009 I took a photographer to Luna who was working on a project about historic trees. Go to http://www.jeffkrueger.com/personal-projects/Historic-Trees to see his result.

I believe strongly that wise trees are more common and have a bigger impact than most people realize. In the middle of the 9/11 Memorial in New York City grows a pear tree that survived the September, 2001 attack. As the clean-up began after the attack, it was found uprooted, broken and burnt, but it still had leaves on its few remaining branches. It was replanted and nursed back to health. This “Survivor Tree”, as it is now called, serves as a strong symbol of resilience, regrowth, and strength for the continuous flow of visitors (including world renowned political, cultural, and religious leaders) who come to the Memorial every day.

Watching Luna closely for 16 years, I see much that has changed. Luna herself has changed. Luna defied the biologists who predicted she’d die following the chain saw attack in November 2000. While her topmost branches show some dieback, the rest of Luna grows strong and healthy, with new branches and foliage appearing every year. I also watch Luna’s bark growing thicker at the chain saw cut. She now bulges outward just above the cut. This, I’m told, is because nutrients move through the cambium both above and below the cut, and since the cambium is severed at the cut, gravity causes an excess of nutrients to accumulate just above the cut. I also watch the bark growing and covering the cut and the brackets. Our canopy inspectors are documenting how Luna’s bark is growing over the hardware installed 100 feet up. I wonder how long it’ll be before Luna completely covers all these foreign objects.

Big changes happened when the land ownership changed. Luna still sits in the middle of a protected three acre preserve. Pacific Lumber Company owned the land when the preserve was created. That was during the time the Maxxam Corporation had control of the company. After creating multiple companies, after increasing the rate of clear cutting, and after shifting profits to new companies based in Texas, Pacific Lumber declared bankruptcy in 2008. After high profile court proceedings, a new company, the Humboldt Redwood Company, was created to take ownership of the 200,000 acres of forest.

When Humboldt Redwood Company was created, the Luna Preserve became part of their holdings. Conversation easements are created in perpetuity; with this change in ownership Sanctuary Forest’s role became even more important. Executives at HRC knew nothing about the details of the Luna Preserve; they didn’t even know Luna’s exact location. After email and telephone exchanges, they accompanied us to Luna and have worked closely with us ever since. Not only is HRC more cooperative than the Pacific Lumber Company ever was, but their president, Mike Jani, has become a regular leader in the Sanctuary Forest Summer Hike Program, co-leading a hike about Forestry Practices with Tim Metz, owner of Restoration Forestry, Inc.

In 2015 collaborative efforts with HRC expanded with the creation of an annual Sanctuary Forest/Humboldt Redwood Company Scholarship that recognizes and awards the active environmental activities of a college bound high school graduate.

In 2013, we were advised to have the steel support cables tested for wear and corrosion. While they passed that test, it became obvious that at some point in the future, more work will be needed in order to maintain the integrity of the support system. We mention this because of the costs involved. Please donate to the Luna Preservation Fund at www.sanctuaryforest.org

Sanctuary Forest agreed to monitor the Luna Preserve in perpetuity. That’s a very long time and a very big responsibility, especially as we see Luna’s significance and symbolism expanding every year. We take this responsibility with seriousness and with pleasure; we appreciate and value Luna’s role as a means for connections between different peoples, different viewpoints, and different cultures.

Luna's canopy on a recent visit