28th Annual HW Forest Council: "Edge Effects"

JOIN US for the 28th Annual Heartwood Forest Council! This year activists from across the Heartwood Region will gather at Camp Crestfield, just outside the town of Slippery Rock, PA in Butler County. In addition to this being where the Coalfields meet Gasland, this is the site of the Glacial Moraine in PA.

This region is on the edge of a new industrial revolution, with the threat of a massive buildout of the petrochemical industry looming like a storm, as the industries responsible for polluting the Gulf of Mexico seek to relocate in the headwaters of the Ohio and Allegheny River valleys, the heart of the new Gas Expansion empire. The program this year will focus on the issues surrounding the Shell ethane-cracker plant in Beaver, PA and the associated pipeline buildout that is currently in the permitting phases. From the JKLM frackwater treatment plant in Coudersport, PA, 50 miles upriver from the Seneca lands just across the NY state line, to the Appalachian Gathering Station on the Ohio River in southern West Virginia, this tri-state region is on the edge of a major transformation. The wave of fracking wells and injection wells is but a precursor to a full-scale relocation of these massive petrochemical facilites, from the Gulf Coast to the upper Ohio River valley. Creatures on the edge of extinction, people on the edge of society, continue to be pushed over the edge by this relentless corporate expansion driven by fossil fuels and plastic waste.

This year, Heartwood is planning our 28th annual Forest Council to provide a forum for a Grassroots Tri-State Summit, an opportunity to organize on a multistate level to face this new threat to our forests and communities. This industrial onslaught may be unprecedented in scale, but the Heartwood model of real-time, on the ground (and in the forest!) person-to-person network building and grassroots organizing remains our strongest and most versatile tool in our activist tool box. See below for a full schedule of workshops and speakers.

Please register on our website, see https://heartwood.org/2018-forest-council/ Online registration will be live near the end of March. Clicking "like" or "going" is not the same! Registering online helps us prepare for the event, to make sure we have the right amount of food and all... This FB Event Page is a place for updates, announcements, and discussion, as well as an outreach tool to help promote the event.

Heartwood takes every measure to make this event affordable to even the most dedicated lowbagger activist, and there are an abundance of Volunteer opportunities available for those who wish to put in a few hours of their time in exchange for the rate of registration. Average registration costs about $125, depending on what sleeping arrangements you choose. Most folks camp in tents, but there are cabin-bunks available too.

Questions? contact Matt or Tabitha at info@heartwood.org