LARUE PINES HILLS FIELD TRIPS SLATED

WOLF LAKE, Ill. -- A number of free educational field trips will be conducted during the eighth annual Larue Pine Hills Appreciation Day Saturday.

The Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, Nature Conservancy and the Illinois Department of Conservation, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, will conduct field trips, starting at 7 a.m..

Trips, at 7, 8 and 10 and 1:30 p.m., will study such topics as birds, wildflowers, mammal, reptiles and amphibians, plants and more. Special trips are planned for young children.

The Larue Pines Hills Ecological Area is a mile east of Wolf Lake, off Illinois 3, on the western side of Shawnee National Forest. Access is from Route 3, north of Wolf Lake, or from the State Forest blacktop east of Wolf Lake.

Field trips, guided by experts, will leave from the large pavilion at the Trail of Tears State Forest, on State Forest blacktop.

The area is only four square miles, but contains as many plant species as the entire Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Larue Pine Hills area is habitat for 35 percent of all plant species in Illinois, including 30 on the state's endangered species list. The area also includes five of the state's eight endangered mammals, two state endangered fish and a state endangered reptile.

The area includes spectacular limestone cliffs that rise 350 feet above the floor of the Mississippi flood plain.

Additional information concerning the Saturday event is available by contacting the Jonesboro (Ill.) Ranger District, (618)-;833-8576, or the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, (618)-684-2660.