Heartwood P.O. Box 543 Tell City, IN 47586 heartwood.org Fall Edition 2017 Unprecedented Threat to Our National Forest by Kentucky Heartwood The U.S. House of Representatives is currently disclose the effects of the project. Public notice and considering H.R. 2936, the deceitfully-named Resilient opportunities for public input will amount to a single Federal Forests Act of 2017. The bill is sponsored by 30-day comment period over an abbreviated proposal Representative Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, whose that may provide only a few pages of information. And largest campaign donor is the timber industry. The that’s it. Westerman bill truly represents one of the greatest The authorities to use Categorical Exclusions under the threats to our public national forests since their inception. Westerman bill are unbelievably broad, and include the If you think our public lands should be more than lawless purposes of “produce(ing) timber” and “creat(ing) early timber farms for the forest products industry, please successional forests for wildlife habitat improvement read on and then call your member of Congress. and other purposes.” Early successional habitat means The bill is extensive, and can be read in its entirety and clearcuts and other similar regeneration harvests. tracked at Congress.gov. Below we summarize some of the Categorical Exclusions are also granted for a wide range most concerning provisions that will directly affect of thinning and salvage projects. Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest and Land Weakening Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. endangered species’ protections No environmental reviews for logging The bill does away with requirements under Section 7 projects up to 10,000 acres of the Endangered Species Act that ensure the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management consult with The Westerman bill carves out a large number of “Categorical Exclusions” for logging projects on national the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine if forest lands. Categorical Exclusions, or "CEs," allow an logging projects will negatively impact threatened and agency to avoid environmental review under the National endangered species and designated critical habitat. Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). What this means is These are crucial safeguards for protecting our most that the Forest Service will be able approve logging vulnerable species. In Kentucky this could affect the projects, including clearcuts, up to 10,000 acres (and up Indiana bat, Kentucky arrow darter, White fringeless to 30,000 acres in some circumstances) without orchid, and at least 24 other federally-listed threatened performing an environmental assessment (EA) or and endangered species that rely on national forest environmental impact statement (EIS) to analyze and lands in the state. (Continued page 16) Table of Contents A Bird’s Eye View, Sylvia Wood……………………………..14 MVP & AVP litigation and update, Ryan Talbot and Ernie Reed…12 Beaver Cracker Plant, Michael Badges-Canning ………….….9 Opposition to GE Trees, GJEP Ruddy Turnstone…….4 Ohio Nat. Forest in the Crosshairs, Becca Pollard……….13 Over Burden, Tabitha Tripp……………………………..15 Deference Doctrine, Carol Polsgrove .……………………. 11 Reunion Information…………………………………………7-8 Eco-Blitz, Indiana Forest Alliance …………………………..5 Shell’s Tactical Meeting, Mark Dixon…………………….…..10 Ecofascists, EF! Skyler Simmons…………………………….3 A TN Walk in the Forest- Sheryl Campbell ……………….…11 Ferdinand Folk Festival………………………………………...9 Christopher Wiersema Art……………………………………..2 Heartwood Coordinating Council Core Council Myke Luurtsema, Chair, IN David Nickell, Vice-Chair, KY Kris Lasher, Treasurer, IN Ernie Reed, Secretary, VA Rock Emmert, IN Corina Lang, IL Matt Peters, PA Tabitha Tripp, IL Contract Staff Tammy Ford, IN, Accountant, IN Matt Peters, PA, Web/Tech Tabitha Tripp, IL, Coordinator Extended Council Jillian Bar-av, MD Mark Donham, IL David Haberman, IN Michael Hendrix, KY Davis Monger, TN Audrey Moore, IN Chris Schimmoeller, KY Jim Scheff, KY Sam Stearns, IL Helen Vasquez, IN Heartbeat Layout and Design Rock Emmert David Nickell Roberta Schonemann Barry Tonning Tabitha Tripp Masthead Artwork Margie Van Auken, IN Heartwood Founder Andy Mahler Arwork by Chrsoper Wiersema Heartwood Committees Events Executive Forest Defense Fundraising and Development Heartbeat Mini-Grants Personnel How to donate to HEARTWOOD Web/Tech Make a donation by simply going to heartwood.org and clicking on Heartwood committees are made up of Core Council, Extended Council, “Support” and then “Donate” contract staff, and Heartwood members. OR mailing a check to If you are interested in joining a committee or joining the Extended Heartwood Council, please contact us. PO 543 Tell City, IN 47586 OR by going to Paypal and setting up monthly payments. Supporting Levels We have • Branch $35 a new PO box! • Sapling $50 • Tree $120 / $10 per month Heartwood • Tree Hugger $240 / $25 per month PO Box 543 • Tree Hugger Extraordinaire $500 / $45 per month • EcoSystem Patron $1000 / $85 per month Tell City, IN 47586 812-307-4326 Membership Benefits [email protected] As a Heartwood Member, you will receive the Heartbeat twice annually. You will also receive discounts on registration rates for the annual Spring Heartwood heartwood.org Forest Council and the Autumn Forest Reunion, and on all Heartwood Merchandise. Perhaps most importantly, as a member, you will become a part of the Heartwood Community—connected with amazing individuals doing amazing 2 work to protect our planet and all the ecosystems within. What Is Heartwood? Why Environmentalists Must Be Antifascists by Skyler Simmons, Earth First! Journal In this age of Trump, with its rising white nationalism and escalating acts of terror against people of color, We are a network of there can be no ambiguity when it comes to resisting white supremacists in particular and the Far Right in individuals and frontline, general. And the environmental movement is no exception. grassroots organizations often in rural communities, Unfortunately environmentalists have long flirted with racist and even outright fascist ideas, from kicking out immigrants to totalitarian population control. It’s time for the environmental movement to come out as an who work together to unequivocally anti-racist and anti-fascist movement. We must show that we are ready to defend human share knowledge and dignity and equality with as much commitment as we defend the Earth. experiences that help communities and people While many of us within the environmental movement have been taking collective liberation seriously for protect the places they years, from chasing the Klan out of our communities to answering the calls from communities of color to love. embrace environmental justice, our movement as a whole has done too little to challenge the racist tendencies both within environmentalist circles as well as society at large. It is time we take seriously the By mentoring, educating, threat posed by racism and the Far Right, and firmly position anti-fascist organizing side by side with our sharing, and advocating for efforts to defend Mother Earth. each other, we strive to create space at our Forest Climate Chaos, Destabilization, and Fascism Ecological destruction, most notably in the form of global climate change is causing massive disruptions to Councils and Reunions for both ecological and human systems. These disruptions are creating scarcity in the essentials of life like food people to feel comfortable and water. These scarcities lead to famine, war, and migration, which prepare the ground for a politics of fear and to heal from the that psychopaths like Trump have successfully capitalized on. Many journalists have already pointed out that o n g o i n g c o m p a s s i o n climate change was a major factor in creating the conditions for war in Syria. The Syrian war, along with the fatigue we experience from general destabilization across the Middle East, has led to what many are calling the largest human migration protecting our homes, our since WWII. It is this massive human migration, a large proportion of which happens to be Muslim, that has f a m i l i e s , a n d o u r whipped up the racist nationalism of everyone from neo-nazi terrorist groups in Germany to the current environment. We offer President of the United States. This new grouping of fascists have ushered in a wave of extreme policies on immigration throughout Europe and the US as well as a shocking rise in rightwing terrorist attacks against unique and valuable people of color. A similar story can of course be found in Latin America with ecological crises in part fueling support to fellow activists. the massive influx of Latino migrants to the US. Join our family. It is impossible to separate the ecological crisis from the humanitarian crisis. We cannot ignore that these humanitarian crises are being used by the right to whip up their white nationalist base. As the effects of Heartwood ecological meltdown continue to escalate, so will these human crises. It is important for those of us fighting Membership the ecological crises to ensure that the response is one of liberation, not fascism. Join Heartwood simply From Malheur to Pikeville: Resource Extraction and the Far Right going to heartwood.org and The business of resource extraction is not only brutal on the land; it also exacts a heavy toll on the clicking on “Support” and communities that depend on these industries for existence. For a while the jobs are good and the money selecting Individual or flows, but eventually the wells run dry, the mountains are mined out, and the trees are all gone. When this Group membership. Please happens the corporations pack up and head home, along with all the profits, leaving the mining communities and logging towns with nothing but poverty, poisoned water, and ruined landscapes. follow the online instructions and select The Right has long done an excellent job exploiting the misery created by these predatory extraction •Individual… $25 per year industries by whipping up resentment against everything from environmental regulations to people of color in order to distract people from the real culprits, capitalism and greed.