WIU gets arbor grant to reforest Horn Field - WGEM.com: Quincy News, Weather, Sports, and Radio

MACOMB, Ill. (AP) - Western Illinois University is receiving a grant from the Arbor Day Foundation that will allow reforestation of the Horn Field Campus.

The grant will pay for more than 16,000 saplings to plant in the 92-acres of woodlands, prairie and nature trails on the campus.

Rob Porter is assistant professor in the Recreation, Park and Tourism Administration Department, which administers Horn Field. The department's students and others who study natural-resources management will get hands-on learning when doing the reforestation work.

Horn Field program coordinator Mindy Pheiffer says the area is overgrown with invasive species which prohibit native hardwood-tree growth.

Porter says forest habitat is disappearing in Illinois. Jack-in-the-Pulpit, redheaded woodpeckers and burrowing crawfish all live in the campus.