Miranda Gibson is back on terra firma after a marathon tree-sit in a remote Tasmanian forest.
A SLOW and silent descent from a platform 60m up a giant, 400-year-old tree marked the end of Australia's longest tree-sit protest.
And a simple hug from the grandfather of forestry protests, Bob Brown, celebrated the reign of Miranda Gibson as Tasmania's leading eco-warrior.
A nearby bushfire forced Ms Gibson from her treetop vigil as her feet touched the ground for the first time in 450 days yesterday.
But she vowed to keep up the fight as Dr Brown was the first to greet the 31-year-old as she came back to earth.
Life up a tree
"What a brilliant Australian she is and what a terrific statement she's made for the planet," he said.
"Miranda's tree, when she got up there, was going to be a pile of woodchip. Now it's going to be World Heritage."
The activist first climbed to the top of a 400-year-old eucalypt in the Styx Valley, about 100km north-west of Hobart, in December 2011.
Despite ending the protest which generated worldwide attention, the former teacher has vowed to fight on.
"With my feet on the ground now, I'm absolutely committed to continue this fight until we see an end to the logging of Tasmania's ancient forests," Ms Gibson said.
"Areas nominated for World Heritage continue to be logged, areas like Butlers Gorge and the Styx Valley."
Ms Gibson's protest has drawn plenty of criticism.
During the past 16 months she had to repeatedly declare she was not receiving welfare payments and was asked to justify the value of her tree-sit.
"There's so many people, thousands of people around the world, who know about these forests who are taking action for these forests, because they found out about (them) from what I've done in the ObserverTree and I'm really proud of it," she said.
Ms Gibson has appeared on news shows around the world, used satellite technology to speak at a number of environmental conferences and maintained a blog during her protest.
The ObserverTree Facebook page has been liked by more than 9170 people.
Ms Gibson broke the record for the longest Australian tree-sit in July, topping the 208 days Manfred Stephens spent up a tree near Cairns in 1995.
Dr Brown questioned if the fire that put an end to Ms Gibson's protest had been deliberately lit.
"Why a fire was lit 1km from here is beyond me and there was no lightning," he said.
"If it's been lit, it's one of the lowest (acts) that somebody supporting the logging industry could do."
hannah.martin@news.com.au
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