GENTRY — Gentry mayor Kevin Johnston with his wife Lori and Dakota Smith, help plant trees at the Flint Creek Power Plant tree farm on Saturday.

Volunteers - 47 were registered - many of them from the local Bloomfield and Outdoor Adventures 4-H Clubs, planted 325 trees in buckets for later planting to establish and preserve riparian zones along area streams and lakes.

This is part of a cooperative effort with the Illinois River Watershed Partnership. Planted were cow oak, sawtooth oak, nuttall oak, bald cypress, green ash, native pecan, persimmon, mulberry and black gum. In addition to the 325 trees potted Saturday, 450 had already been potted by the FFA and about 275 are yet to be delivered and will be potted by the FFA.

News, Pages 8 on 03/16/2011