Washington, DC—It’s not often that a Member of Congress gets to play music with one of the Rolling Stones. Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN), Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and a longtime musician in various Congressional ensembles, gets a break from his legislative duties for some musical fun Thursday, October 15th at a special event sponsored by the American Forest Foundation and featuring legendary Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell. Also appearing is David Spero, President of Alliance Artists, Ltd. Billed as an intimate evening of music and stories, the event is a benefit for the American Forest Foundation’s environmental education and family woodland programs.

Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and Representative John Sarbanes (D-MD) both will received the Forest Foundation’s annual award for “Environmental Education Advocates of the Year” for their leadership on the No Child Left Inside Act, a measure to increase funding and programs for environmental education. This legislation now has 82 co-sponsors in the House and 18 co-sponsors in the Senate. Project Learning Tree, a nonprofit organization that develops environmental education and trains 30,000 teachers each year through its 50-state network, is a project of the event’s host, the American Forest Foundation.

Representative Kurt Schrader (D-OR) will also receive an award for “Family Woodland Advocate of the Year” for his work championing forest-carbon incentives and biomass provisions in the House-passed climate change legislation. Schrader co-chairs the Healthy Forests Caucus in the House.

Two family woodland owners, Dr. William Jahoda of Lebanon, Connecticut and Campbell B. Lanier III of Hurtsboro, Alabama are also being given the American Forest Foundation’s national Conservation Forestry Award.  Jahoda, who also owns woodlands in New Hampshire, was the first person in that state to enroll his property in the state’s Forest Legacy Program by placing it under a working forest easement. Lanier manages his woodland to benefit wildlife, and his land is one of only two private properties with a documented population of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and the only population of the American Chaffseed, a federally endangered plant, in Alabama. In 2004, Lanier enrolled in a Safe Harbor Agreement with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the endangered woodpecker. 

Jahoda and Lanier are among more than 10 million family woodland owners in America. Although many people assume that most forests in America are owned by local, state and federal governments, in fact nearly two-thirds of U.S. forests are privately owned. Chuck Leavell is himself a longtime Tree Farmer at his beloved Charlane Plantation in Dry Branch, Georgia. He is also the Executive Director of Environmental Affairs for the online Mother Nature Network.

This special event is being held at the Mansion on O St, 2020 O St. in Washington, DC from 5:30 to 8:30 pm. A limited number of press passes are available but must be reserved in advance by contacting the American Forest Foundation at jwyerman@forestfoundation.org.    

The American Forest Foundation (AFF) is a nonprofit conservation and education organization that strives to ensure the sustainability of America’s family forests for present and future generations. AFF’s vision is to create a future where North American forests are sustained by the public which understands and values the social, economic, and environmental benefits they provide to our communities, our nation, and our world.