[pf] Luna

by Kaleopono

25 December 2000 21:11 UTC

Julia Hill is right that what's happened to Luna is a metaphor of how
Industrial Mankind has wounded the world.
Kaleopono
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TREE EXPERTS SHORE UP THE INJURED LUNA
STAFFORD, California, December 19, 2000 (ENS) - After the ancient redwood
tree Luna was chainsawed by a saboteur, tree experts including world
renowned arborists, canopy biologists foresters and engineers worked to
devise lasting solutions to keep the symbolic tree living and standing tall.
Canopy biologists attached a collar 100 feet high in the tree and shot cable
to trees that have similar collars and will act as anchor points to
stabilize the tree. The non-invasive cabling system attaches Luna's massive
trunk to three other trees in the protected grove. The grove was protected a
year ago and deeded to the land trust Sanctuary Forest under the Luna
Preservation Agreement between Julia Butterfly Hill and Pacific Lumber. Luna
became famous after environmental activist Hill made the tree her home for
more than two years. Hill's feat helped draw attention to the plight of old
growth treed threatened by logging.
Civil engineer Steve Salzman explained the structural integrity inherent in
a redwood tree. "From a structural point of view the trunk of an old growth
redwood tree is overdesigned," Salzman said. "That is why redwoods more
often tip over than snap off. Cutting 60 percent of the trunk has greatly
diminished its ability to withstand wind and seismic loading. We have
reinforced the tree with cables and steel bracing to replace some of the
strength that has been lost. We will never be able to fully replicate the
original strength embodied in the dynamic living system of a redwood tree."
But Hill said it will take more than a chainsaw to destroy Luna. "Although
symbols can be attacked, what they stand for can never be destroyed," said
Hill. "Whenever Luna falls into the forest floor, she will feed and grow new
life and what she stands for will live on forever. It's going to take people
with diverse backgrounds coming together in unity and love to heal the wound
in the tree and our world."
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