On March 29^th, a group of 60 FFA students from Whitely County High School, Undergraduate students from the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources and Natural Resources and Environmental Science Program, a Graduate Student from Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, and the Division of Forestry, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, and U.S. Forest Service joined together to aid a local group of private landowners with their forest restoration efforts. The event took place at the Flying Rooster Farm located in Whitely County and owned by a several local of families. This farm was purchased several decades ago as a very barren mined area and with the efforts of these families has started to be restored to native forest and grasslands, a wildlife paradise.

As part of the effort, 2600 tree seedlings were planted on the 600 acre farm as a cooperative event between the Whitely County High School, the University of Kentucky, and several government agencies. In the morning, the students were able to partake in some educational programming from multiple faculty and extension personnel from the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources and the state agencies on wildlife, invasive species, and forest management, and more importantly how they all intertwine to impact the ecosystem. After lunch, the entire group planted the 2600 trees to help accomplish the native forest restoration.