Hoosiers Take Action! Support S.2990 (Deam Wilderness Bill)
January 20, 2024
Support our wilderness and recreation areas!
Call to Action: Show your Support for S.2990 Benjamin Harrison National Recreation Area and Wilderness Establishment Act of 2023!
Sunset over the Deam - photo credit Steven Higgs.
Hi Supporter,
The Sierra Club has endorsed S.2990, the Benjamin Harrison National Recreation Area and Wilderness Establishment Act of 2023, introduced by Indiana Senator Mike Braun, R-IN in September of 2023.
S.2990 will more than double the size of the Charles Deam Wilderness Area, increasing it by 15,300 acres and will establish the Benjamin Harrison National Recreation Area on an additional 29,382 acres of national forest land explicitly to protect the Monroe Reservoir drinking water supply.
The Hoosier Chapter Conservation Committee is excited to announce this Sierra Club endorsement and hope that you will take these actions to help us get this important legislation passed!
This legislation is on a ticking clock. Our actions are focused on generating as many calls and emails as soon as possible to Indiana Congresswoman Erin Houchin, urging her to introduce S.2990 in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Ninth District constituents (in So. Bartholomew, Brown, Clark, Dearborn, Decatur, Floyd, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Jennings, Lawrence, Monroe, Ohio, Ripley, Scott, Switzerland, Washington Counties) click the following link to send a message to her through her website: houchin.house.gov/contact
For Sierra Club members and friends outside of the Ninth district, call Congresswoman Houchin's office at: 202-225-5315 to relay your views on S.2990.
Or send a letter:
Congresswoman Erin Houchin
1632 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
An important Sierra Club strategy for climate resiliency is the 30 X 30 Campaign, which means in the US we need to conserve 30 percent of our public lands and waters by 2030. Flourishing natural areas and parks are indispensable to people’s health, prosperity, cultural traditions, and enjoyment. They also play a critical role in combating the climate and extinction crises.
The Deam Wilderness Area expansion and the protection of our drinking water source are local issues but this important federal legislation will help to restore the climate for everyone by restoring more public forests to mature and old growth conditions. If you care about protecting forests on public land and clean water for all, please help with this action now: email Erin Houchin via her website: houchin.house.gov or call 202-225-5315!
Want to help even more? Please contact U.S. Senator Todd Young and ask him to cosponsor S.2990 along with Senator Braun, which will lead to its consideration by the Senate’s Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. This committee has jurisdiction over S.2990 and must sign off on the bill before it can be considered on the floor by the full Senate.
