Southern Illinois students use prize money to repair swamp boardwalk

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A boardwalk in a southern Illinois swamp is reopening with help from local students.

Known as the Wetland Warriors, the Creal Springs School group used $15,000 of the prize money they won from a Disney Planet national science competition last year. They will use the remaining $5,000 for a wildlife viewing blind and purchase radio transmitters for research.

The middle school group won the competition for creating educational materials and a website about their projects, including transplanting vegetation, maintaining trails and testing water quality. Their teacher, Fran Wachter, also received an award from the Illinois Science Teachers Association.

The boardwalk allows visitors to walk through a floodplain forest in Cache River Wetlands. Flood damage closed the boardwalk in 2008.

Other repair money came from the state and local support groups.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.