TREE-MENDOUS EFFORT: Miranda's mum, Glenys Gibson, visits her daughter, who has spent a year in the tree protesting about logging in the state's high conservation value forests. Picture: Alan Lesheim
WHEN Miranda Gibson started her tree-top protest in Tasmania's Styx Valley she never thought she'd still be there a year later.
But the former teacher says she'd happily do it again and has no idea when she'll come down.
Today marks one year since the start of Ms Gibson's Observer Tree protest, to stop logging in the state's high conservation value forests.
She lives on a small platform 60m up, suspended atop a 400-year-old eucalypt tree.
Her campaign has generated worldwide attention.
She has an online blog, Facebook page and has appeared on national news programs, international current affairs shows and in newspapers around the world.
The Observer Tree has more than 7200 followers on Facebook and thanks to solar-powered technology in the tree, Ms Gibson has been able to broadcast her message into classrooms, boardrooms and loungerooms across the globe.
She's spoken at environmental conferences and with school groups, spreading her message about conservation.
She celebrated her 31st birthday in the tree and has smashed the record for the longest Australian tree-sit, which was previously 212 days.
"To be honest, it was hard to know when I first came up here what was going to happen," Ms Gibson said.
"I don't think I would have expected to be up here for a whole year; I really hoped there would be that protection in place before now.
"But if I had to go back, knowing it was going to be a year, I would definitely do it again."
Ms Gibson said coming to terms with her isolation and solitude have been the biggest challenges, as well as coping with Tasmania's harsh winter weather.
She said one of the hardest things was the uncertainty about how long she would be in the tree.
"But even now [the IGA has been signed] it doesn't provide any certainty of when forest protections will be in place," she said.
"I have to take each day as it comes and try not to think too much about the future because I don't know how long I'll be up here for."
As Ms Gibson prepares to celebrate a second Christmas in the tree, she reflects on missed events and family milestones.
"A friend of mine fell pregnant and has had a baby since I was in the tree and I didn't get to be part of that," she said.
"But I have a lot of support from my friends and family, and the sacrifice is definitely worth it.
"There's a lot of people out there that didn't necessarily know what's going on in Tasmania's forests and didn't necessarily know the forests were still under threat. I get a lot of comments and emails from people thanking me for letting them know what's happening."
Ms Gibson urged the Federal Government to push through World Heritage listing for the Styx Valley, the Florentine and Weld forests.
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