Heartwood

07/22/2026

Yesterday, members of Friends of Bell Smith Springs, the Regional Association of Concerned Environmentalists, and other Heartwood members gathered at the federal courthouse in East St. Louis, to sing the new anthem for forests that we wrote at our recent Forest Council gathering this past May. They were there to attend the court hearing that day, as the judge heard oral arguments on why the Forest Service violated the law when they used a Categorical Exclusion to approve logging that directly impacts the National Natural Recreation Area.

07/22/2026

Yesterday, members of Friends of Bell Smith Springs, the Regional Association of Concerned Environmentalists, and other Heartwood members gathered at the federal courthouse in East St. Louis, to sing the new anthem for forests that we wrote at our recent Forest Council gathering this past May. They were there to attend the court hearing that day, as the judge heard oral arguments on why the Forest Service violated the law when they used a Categorical Exclusion to approve logging that directly impacts the National Natural Recreation Area. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1adbj36-eeniWnsTk4MsepaUM2CGYWnJm/view Here's a video of the song, and you can read more about our lawsuit in the Fall 2025 issue (and other back issues) archived on our website, https://old.heartwood.org/heartbeat/index.html

Heartbeat is the biannual newsletter of the Heartwood community, with a Spring and a Fall issue timed to coincide with our two annual Events. Circulation is distributed throughout the Heartwood region and to all our Member Groups. We welcome your volunteer contributions! Send your campaign updates,....

07/09/2026

Articles for the fall issue of Heartbeat, our twice-a-year newspaper, are due August 1st! Send us your campaign updates, press releases, insightful essays, opinions and rants and suggestions for how to do it better to our editors at info-at-heartwood-dot-org. Don't forget to include a photo, and please keep it to less than a thousand words, 300-500 is usually plenty. Three Cheers for the Fourth Estate!

07/09/2026

Check out the latest Heartwood Forest Protection Podcast! Dave Cooper is back on the road with the Bourbon Barrel Roadshow, taking what he learned from his years of anti-mountaintop removal roadshows to educate us about the unsustainable impact of the Kentucky bourbon boom on our forests and local communities.

In this interview, Dave weaves together the story of white oak tree...