May update from Uplands Network, connecting Monroe and surrounding counties
May 6, 2025
So many issues, not enough cardboard!
Hi Supporter,
So many issues, not enough cardboard!
We have been at several rallies lately: Hands Off, May Day, and Forest Protection. We are energized and inspired by the number of people speaking up to protect our democracy and environment.
We also attended the Indiana Forest Alliance Hike with Senator Shelli Yoder.
Please continue to share information and your experiences; we are more powerful together!
Sierra Club members joined IFA on a hike with Senator Shelli Yoder April 24th at Morgan Monroe State Forest. Senator Yoder has introduced bills to set aside portions of public forests and plans to continue to protect our environment. Photo: Marilyn Bauchat.
Protect Our Progress Toward Renewable Energy — Update
Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign - 2025 Statewide Campaign Launch
Join us in the movement to secure affordable, renewable energy for Indiana and learn why we need to protect our progress in 2025. We will do a deep dive on how we can push back on Duke Energy's dirty agenda to protect Hoosiers and our environment.
Beyond Coal Team to Speak at Green Drinks Bloomington
Please join us at Upland Brewing WoodShop to learn from Megan and Nicole about how you can join a movement of Hoosiers coming together to protect our progress and to push Duke Energy to deliver affordable, renewable energy to our communities. Presentation starts at 6:00 PM, May 28, at 354 West 11th St, Bloomington.
Protect the Endangered Species Act
The Trump Administration is proposing to eliminate a regulation that provides endangered species with clear protections against injury from habitat destruction. This proposal is the most serious threat to the integrity of the Endangered Species Act that we have ever seen.
Wildlife in the US is already running out of places to live, in large part due to habitat destruction. With over one-third of species in the US at risk of extinction, we should be working to protect more habitat, not less.
This egregious proposal is not only an attack on the ESA and the species it protects, but on the future of healthy ecosystems that support clean water, clean air, and the food we eat.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service is collecting public comments on the impact of these decisions through May 19. We need to raise our voices in order to stop them before it is too late for the ESA and the species it safeguards.– Sierra Club National
Maybe you visited us at Earth Day Bloomington as we partnered with Artists for Environmental Restoration to encourage families to express their love of nature in art. We will follow up with a family hike in July, followed soon after with a drawing workshop led by the artists!
Tabling at Earth Day Bloomington. Photos: Marilyn Bauchat.
Or maybe you joined us at Bean Blossom Bottoms for the Owl Prowl with David Rupp of IndiGo Birding!
David Rupp of IndiGo Birding led Sierra Club members on our Owl Prowl at Beanblossom Bottoms April 24th. We enjoyed hearing and watching a barred owl, wood ducks, swifts, eagles, and other birds, along with assorted frogs. Photos: Marilyn Bauchat.
We have many exciting activities being added to our Events and Outings page on the Hoosier Chapter Sierra Club website.
Sign up asap as space is often limited. You will find new destinations to explore!
Call to Action to Protect our Watersheds
Uplands Network Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter, Indiana Forest Alliance, and Protect Our Woods invite you to make your voices heard. Please join us at the Bedford Office (811 Constitution Avenue, Bedford, IN 47421) of the Hoosier National Forest on Thursday, May 15th at 10:00 AM.
We wish to express our love for the natural world; for justice, kindness, and democracy as we ask the NFS to permanently stop the logging and burning in Houston South and Buffalo Springs. Bring signs with your message, friends and family. This will be a festive family event with speakers and songs.
Join Our Monthly Meetings
May Uplands Network Meeting (virtual)
Our monthly meetings are held at 6:30 PM on the second Monday.
Please join us virtually this month (Monday May 12 at 6:30 PM) to receive updates and share your concerns/feedback. Register here to receive link.
Last month we met in person at the library to share books we have read.
We do this annually, but may do it more frequently in the future.
If you send in recommendations, I’ll include it in the next newsletter.
About the Uplands Network
Our leadership team includes dedicated people who plan meetings and outings, table at events, and connect with other groups.
We welcome anyone who wishes to volunteer with our network. Open volunteer positions are: co-chair, treasurer, energy coordinator, social media coordinator, conservation committee members and outings leaders. Shorter volunteer commitments include tabling at events and at local farmers’ markets. To volunteer write Marilyn at marilynbauchat@gmail.com.
Book recommendations from Uplands Network folks:
Freckles and Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey Silent Spring by Rachel Carson The Rights of Nature by David Boyd Sierra Magazine (sent to members) The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michelle Richardson Ecoblitz, an Indiana Forest Expedition by Indiana Forest Alliance The Heat Will Kill You First by Jeff Goodell Fire and Flood, A People’s History of Climate Change by Eugene Linden The Treeline by Ben Rawlence The War Below by Ernest Scheyder Centennial by James Michener Braiding Sweetgrass and The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
No matter your level of expertise and interest, we are confident that you can find community and purpose in the Uplands Network and the Hoosier Chapter.
Explore. Enjoy. Protect. Marilyn Bauchat and the Uplands Leadership Team
Marilyn Bauchat and Greg Grant at the Indiana Sustainability and Resilience Conference Friday, 28 Feb. Dr. Kim Novik shared new data that may prove forests sequester 40-70% more carbon than previously thought.
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
