Concert to save forests

Heartwood and the Indiana Forest Alliance will be holding a benefit concert this Thursday to raise money in the fight to save Indiana's state forests.\nBoth groups are dedicated to Indiana's forests. Heartwood is an "association of groups, individuals, and businesses dedicated to the health and well being of the native forest of the Central Hardwood region, and its interdependent plant, animal, and human communities" according to www.heartwood.org, and the Indiana Forest Alliance was created "to coordinate efforts of existing forest protection and conservation organizations and concerned citizens," according to www.indianaforestalliance.org.\nThe show for people 21 and over will be held at Vertigo, 107 W. Ninth St., and will start at 7:30 p.m. The musical acts are scheduled to include Grey Larsen, the White Lightning Boys, Drew Laird, Benjamin Del, members of Alma Azul and Bill Whitefeather. The Woodland Theatre will also perform an "eco-awareness" play to educate the audience through humor.\n"This is a great way to bring people into the forest community and get students and kids educated on issues in the area," said performer and Heartwood member Drew Laird. "It will be a good time, and at the same time you are doing something for the environment."\nWhile the organizations aren't charging the guests at the door, they are asking for a five dollar donation to help support their future initiatives. Much of the money will go toward a lawsuit the Indiana Forest Alliance has filed against the state of Indiana that would force the latter to comply with a 30 year-old law requiring agencies to do an environmental assessment before performing any work that would affect the environment.\n"They claim that logging has no impact on the environment, when it obviously does," IFA Treasurer Mike Englert said. "The lawsuit would force them to comply with their own law."\nIt is the goal of the organizations to put an end to commercial logging in state forests, said Joanna Gras, the Coordinator for Heartwood and the Indiana Forest Alliance. Englert added only one to two percent of logging for the state of Indiana come from state forests, so leaving those forests wouldn't hurt the industry.\nPrevious concerts put together by IFA and Heartwood began drawing too many people for their old venue, so they have moved the show over to Vertigo in hopes of attracting even more supporters. \n"The concerts were previously held at Upland, but we were getting bigger to around 100-150 folks," Gras said. "Two hundred would be a great goal, especially to check out the Woodland Theatre group."\nThe play, written by Stan Clark, will spoof the government logging program from the perspective of children and forest creatures. The night also features Grey Larsen, who approached Heartwood in the fall to perform at a benefit concert. Newcomers Laird and Del both come from Michigan and will be making their first performance in Bloomington. White Lightning Boys will be coming from Brown County and will bring a bluegrass sound to the show.\n"It is really just a great excuse to get people together to get motivated about bettering the community," Gras said. "Hopefully we can get some people to volunteer time to work on community issues in the future."\n-- Contact senior writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.