As Department of Natural Resources foresters Gary Stratton and Jerry Pirtle maneuvered their johnboat about Horseshoe Lake, they glided past clumps of young trees sporting new spring leaves and either orange or blue tags. Orange for cypress; blue for tupelo. It was their first close-up look at the results of last fall's major DNR tree-planting project at the site.

Horseshoe Lake is a shallow 2,400-acre lake situated adjacent to the Mississippi River and the Shawnee National Forest seven miles north of Cairo in the southernmost tip of the state. Part of the 9,550-acre Horseshoe Lake Conservation area, it is filled with bald cypress, tupelo gum and swamp cottonwood trees. Any visitor who didn't know better might swear the site was in Louisiana.

Here, high water marks and dead trees tell a visual story of the aftermath of the flooding in the summer of 1993. The flood line is clearly visible on the trees, especially when they are wet. Darker areas below the line are

DNR District Forester Jerry Pirtle inspects tupelo and cypress trees set out last fall in conjunction with a successful tree-planting project at Horseshoe Lake.