Scouts and their troop leaders carried 20 bur oak and walnut trees down the hill to the flood plain of the Sangamon River.

A proud scout poses with a newly planted walnut tree.

Diary of a Restoration

11th Installment, May 6, 2004

Scouts planted 20 bur oak and walnut trees in the flood plain of the Sangamon River as part of the Illinois Raptor Center's habitat restoration project. Another 20 trees, including pin oak, swamp white oak and pecan will be ready to plant this fall. Three Kentucky coffee trees were added to the flood plain reforestation project as well.

Hardwood trees will provide food for wildlife in the form of acorns, nuts and seeds. They will also eventually provide nesting cover. Many species of birds rely on floodplain forests. Pileated woodpeckers, for example, need large acreages of hardwood forest in order to find enough food to feed their families.

Scoutmaster Diane Boyd (red jacket) has been a great supporter of our habitat restoration and educational programs at the IRC. Her troops of Boy and Girl Scouts have attended every event.

Container trees were purchased from Illinois Forest Products in Beardstown, Illinois and paid for through a Schoolyard Habitat Action Grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Special thanks to Guy and Edie Sternberg of Starhill Forest Arboretum near Petersburg, Illinois for the donation of a Kentucky Coffee Tree for the restoration effort.

Click here to view more photos of our replanting efforts.