The episode is based on a story Matt Selman heard on the radio about Julia Butterfly Hill, an American activist and environmentalist who lived in an old California Redwood tree known as "Luna" for over two years, between 1997 and 1999 to prevent loggers from cutting it down.
The character Jesse Grass was named after Matt Selman's brother Jesse Selman, who according to Matt acts a lot like Jesse Grass. The last name came from Jesse Selman's bluegrass band named Grass
Couch: Maggie is on the couch. The rest of the Simpsons waddle in dressed as Teletubbies and Maggie applauds with delight.
A game system The Gamestation 256 is a parody on Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation.