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HEARTWOOD is a regional network that protects forests and supports community activism in the eastern United States through education, advocacy, and citizen empowerment.

HEARTWOOD was founded in 1991, when concerned citizens from several midwestern states met and agreed to work together to protect the heartland hardwood forest.

This region was once blanketed with a majestic hardwood forest containing more than 70 species of hardwood trees. Unfortunately, much of this forest has been cleared and what remains is mostly isolated fragments of public land that nonetheless play a critical role in providing habitat for wildlife, purifying the air and water, moderating global climate change, and offering places of beauty and enjoyment. .

Today, our efforts remain rooted in the heart of the central hardwood region, with an emphasis on our “core states” of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri. Over time, Heartwood has branched out to serve areas of need throughout an 18-state region, giving special attention to the “at risk” national forests in Michigan, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Virginia.


The Heartwood Region

Join us as we explore the land, people, issues and opportunities in our region using the power of online maps! Our maps section is growing... check it out and help us add more interesting information.


Biomass Incinerator withdraws permit application in Indiana

The Concerned Citizens of Crawford County have just announced that Liberty Green Renewables LLC (LGR), the company proposing to build a 32 megawatt biomass incinerator in Milltown, Indiana, has withdrawn its permit application to discharge wastewater from the plant on-site, effectively signaling a successful conclusion to an eighteen month organizing effort to stop the incinerator.
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Heartwood Mini-Grants—Apply Now!

The purpose of the mini-grant program is to provide funding for activists who need it. The mini-grant program seeks to provide funding for creative efforts and ideas fomented by Heartwood members and member groups. Efforts and ideas could range from Heartwood's roots as a forest protection organization to current efforts to stop mountaintop removal and biomass projects to ideas we have not considered at this time.

Download the MiniGrant Guideline & application document (PDF).

Coal Country Music

Mountaintop Removal CD

Buy the CD

Heartwood partnered with singer/songwriter Jason Wilber, guitar player for John Prine, to produce a compilation CD of music by nationally known recording artists, to raise awareness about and help stop the tragedy of mountaintop removal coal-mining.

Coal Country Music is the companion CD to the award-winning documentary Coal Country by film-makers Mari-Lynn Evans and Phylis Geller whose previous documentary, The Appalachians, was widely shown on PBS. Coal Country Music includes liner notes by Ashley Judd and Woody Harrelson and information about the Alliance for Appalachia. All proceeds from the sale of the CD will be used to support the work of the Alliance for Appalachia of which Heartwood is a member and be used to STOP mountaintop removal coal-mining.

For more information, contact Andy Mahler, 812.723.2430