Shawnee Showdown at the Normal Theater
August 31, 2022 @ 7:00 PM
During the late 1980s and the 1990s, a small, dedicated group of activists fought on the ground and in the courts to stop clear-cutting, oil and gas drilling, and ATV use in the Shawnee National Forest located in Southern Illinois. They won the support of their community and the struggle in a landmark court case. Seventeen years later, the court lifted the injunction, and the Forest Service resumed logging. Shawnee Showdown: Keep the Forest Standing portrays the struggle to protect the forest through interviews, photographs, and archival news footage. The film examines how the past struggle can serve to inform the public and activists today in responding to current Forest Service management projects. These activists are once again asking hard questions about public land use. Should our public land be degraded to generate commercial profit for a few? With the effects of climate change intensifying and the knowledge that mature forests sequester more carbon, why not keep the Shawnee National Forest standing as a regional carbon sink? How can the forest remain a healthy habitat for struggling forest species like forest interior and migratory songbirds? Will our Illinois treasure be despoiled? How do we keep the forest standing?
Cade Bursell’s 2021 documentary will be shown Wednesday, August 31, 2022 at the Normal Theater at 7 p.m., free of charge. Shawnee activists Sam Stearns and John Wallace will be present for a Q & A after the screening.
This event is sponsored by the Normal Theater, the Ecology Action Center, Saad and Julie Elzanati, David Pittman, John Wesley Powell Audubon Society, Illinois Prairie Wild Ones, and Sugar Grove Nature Center.