Iowa State will be visited by two speakers next week who will show that environmental activism is not only a necessity, but also a fun experience.

The Big Wild Road Show, part of a forest protection group called the Northern Rockies Preservation Project, is a multimedia presentation which uses live music, video and slides to protest the destruction of irreplaceable wildlands.

Activists Martin Stephan and Josh Burnim, who travel across the United States speaking against an attack on the Northern Rockies region in central Idaho, will stop on campus Wednesday.

Some student organizations believe the Northern Rockies project and other forms of environmental activism are helpful to society.

“I think [the presentation] is important because we’re all consumers of wood products,” said Rick Meyers, president of the Student Environmental Council.

Stephan and Burnim will share with students their devotion to preserving wilderness areas located in the Northern Rockies. According to a press release, remaining wild areas in this region currently are threatened by the U.S. Forest Service’s commercial logging policy.

The Big Wild Road Show will reveal the U.S. Forest Service’s logging plan, which may endanger some of the last roadless areas of the continental United States, also known as the Greater Salmon-Selway Ecosystem.

A press release states that the ecosystem is part of less than five percent of pure native forests left in the country.

Meyers said environmental issues often are ignored by students and society.

“In general, society turns their heads or assumes they know enough about the environment,” he said. “I don’t think there’s enough awareness, and it’s important to learn about these issues.”

Stephan and Burnim have strong backgrounds in environmental protection activism.

Before meeting on the Northern Rockies Preservation Project, both men were involved in wilderness programs and groups such as the Sierra Club.

Through the Big Wild Road Show, Stephan and Burnim will explain the crisis involving wildlands in central Idaho and will ask students for support.

In addition, they will show ISU students how to become involved in stopping the destruction of the wildlands.

According to the press release, environmentalists have been fighting to stop timber sales from the Northern Rockies area for more than six years.

It remains the second longest forest blockade in U.S. history.

The multimedia presentation, followed by a discussion, will kick off at 8 p.m. in the Gallery of the Memorial Union.

The Big Wild Road Show is sponsored by the ISU Student Environmental Council and Committee on Lectures.