STAFFORD (CALIFORNIA), June 17: For six months, Julia Hill has lived on a plywood perch no bigger than a queen-sized bed, 18 stories above tree stumps the size of small cars.It's a record-setting act of defiance that has galvanised the struggle to defend what remains of a glorious Redwood forest as old as Christianity.But her devotion to the forest may be planting the seeds of its destruction.With her unwavering opposition leading the way, environmentalists are now backing away from a deal to take the world's largest privately owned ancient Redwoods forest out of the hands of loggers and convert it into a nature preserve.Hill's attention-grabbing stunt has highlighted environmentalists' deep reservations about the 380 million dollars cash-for-property Headwaters deal. If it falls through, Pacific Lumber Co has vowed to begin logging."Sometimes, by saving one tree, you might lose the forest," said Jim Youngson of the state resources agency.Hill's feet last touched solid ground on December 10,when she clambered to the top of the Redwood she calls Luna, atop a ridge some 450 km up the coast from San Francisco. Her tree like much of Humboldt county is owned by Pacific Lumber. The Headwaters forest named for a spot where three streams come together has become an environmental issue since 1996, when 1,000 people were arrested at a mass rally. Last year, a videotape of authorities daubing pepper spray in the eyes of protesters was broadcast worldwide.Two years ago, state and federal officials began negotiations with Pacific Lumber and its parent company, Houston-based Maxxam Corp, to save the uncut trees. They settled on 380 million dollars in cash for the 7,500 acres.Congress has since approved its 250 million dollars share. But state lawmakers have held up California's 130 million dollars share, saying the deal doesn't go far enough. "The proposed agreement would permit logging within nine metres of streams where the endangered Coho Salmon live, a glaring discrepancy," said state Senator ByronSher, who wants a buffer zone five times as wide."All of us want to see Headwaters forest preserved, but we don't want the salmon to go extinct as a result and that's the tradeoff our government has made," said Kevin Bundy of the Environmental Protection Information Centre.The deal has another big problem, environmentalists say. It allows the company to log a section of ancient Redwoods larger than central park in New York city.Charles Hurwitz, chief executive of Maxxam, says the deal he signed is the only one he'll accept. Either it stands or the trees fall, he told a board meeting last month. Losing the Headwaters deal doesn't worry Hill, who calls it "a drop of water in the bucket of a man dying of thirst". Loggers have already cut 97 per cent of the ancient Redwood forest that once stretched for over 480 km, from Big Sur to the Oregon border, she said. "We're at a point where we have everything to lose and nothing to gain," Hill said from a lower platform 30 meters above the damp forestfloor.Her position: an end to all logging at the ancient Redwoods.Hill's journey to the treetops began in 1996, when a near-fatal car wreck led her to believe that life as a bartender in Fayetteville, Arkansas, lacked meaning. On a journey west, the 24-year-old discovered the Redwoods. Taking the nom de guerre Julia Butterfly, she began her tree sit, penning poetry on the backs of pasta boxes.Atop Luna, 145 kmh winds have lashed Hill's tent and storms have dumped 110 cms of rain on the overhead tarpauline. She uses a bucket for a toilet, takes only sponge baths and relies on supplies ferried to her in the backpacks of Earth First members.These days, two cell phones and a pager keep Hill connected to the world. Woody Harrelson has climbed the tree. The usual way is to use rock-climbing equipment to ascend, and to descend use ropes hanging from her perch.
