The fact that she is older than the tree didn’t stop an 86-year-old Berkeley woman from climbing it to protest its planned demise.

Betty Olds, a Berkley City Council member, climbed an 80-year-old live oak tree on the campus of UC Berkley to protest the university’s plans to remove a grove of trees to make room for a $125 million sports complex.

She talked to Growing Bolder about her time in the tree and what compelled her to climb it.

She was joined in the tree by former Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean, 71, and conservationist Sylvia McLaughlin, 90.