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. Heartwood has gathered every Memorial Day weekend for the past 14 years. In 2004, with its critical national election, Heartwood has chosen Virginia and the George Washington National Forest as the site for our Forest Council.

Virginia has rich, diverse forests and history. The state is sometimes called the birthplace of presidents and of democracy, producing free thinkers who prize liberty and justice for all. Likewise, the land of the Old Dominion speaks of America's tragic mistakes and injustices: slavery, racism, species extinction and the exploitation of nature.

The Forest Council will be held at Caroline Furnace Lutheran Camp in Fort Valley, Virginia. This unique high-elevation valley is at the heart of Massanutten Mountain in the Shenandoah Valley. George Washington surveyed Fort Valley and had it in his battle plans as a final refuge if the British gained the upper hand during the Revolution. "Stonewall" Jackson used Fort Valley as a strategic hiding place during his famed defense of the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War.

Most of Massanutten Mountain is now part of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, with the most roadless acreage east of the Mississippi. The 1.7 million acres of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests suffers from the worst kind of exploitation of the public lands by private corporations: logging that threatens roadless areas like Big Schloss and Massanutten, cutting in the habitat of rare species like the Wood Turtle and Peaks of Otter Salamander, proposals for 30 mile ATV trails, gas drilling in North Fork of the Pound roadless area, and the huge Bark Camp timber sale proposed in one of Southwest Virginia's most popular recreational areas. Join us in defending our freedoms and the wild forests of America.