Screening of Shawnee Showdown: Keep the Forest Standing
Directed by Cade Bursell, Professor at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

Filmmaker Cade Bursell and several local environmental activists from the documentary will be present for a post-screening discussion about the state of Illinois and the environment. In the context of climate change, what happens to land?  

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 news footage. The film examines the ways the past struggle can serve to inform the public and activists today in responding to current Forest Service management projects.  

Collaboration with the Illinois Community Media Project.

This event is part of the College of Media Annual Theme Series.