OWENSBURG, Ind. (AP) — State contractors are planting thousands of trees and reclaiming previously drained wetlands in southern Indiana to make up for environmental damage caused by construction of the Interstate 69 extension.

The Indiana Department of Transportation’s mitigation plan includes planting about 332,000 trees and protecting another 690,000 trees along a 27-mile section of the highway that’s now under construction through Greene and Monroe counties and is scheduled to open by 2015.

The first 67 miles of the Evansville-to-Indianapolis highway opened in November from Evansville to Crane about 25 miles southwest of Bloomington.