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Wild Things 2025

The Wild Things Conference Returns Saturday, March 1, 2025 - SOLD OUT

We’re thrilled to welcome you again to learn and share your expertise with our community. We’ve put together an exciting lineup of workshops and sessions from regional and national experts, plus meet & greets, video content, exhibitors, and sponsors. With over 140 presentations and discussion panels to choose from, the in-person program engages a diverse range of topics, research, and skills, and plenty of opportunities to meet with friends, old and new.

Thank you as well to our sponsors, scholarship supporters, and exhibitors who are all helping to make this another tremendously successful Wild Things.

Tickets for Wild Things 2025 are sold out. For additional information on the 2025 conference, visit wildthingscommunity.org.

**PLEASE NOTE: Some details are subject to change.**

NOTICE: Please be advised that photos and videos will be taken during Wild Things 2025. By attending, you consent to be photographed, filmed, and/or otherwise recorded. Your attendance on this event constitutes your agreement to the use of any resulting media by Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves for promotional, marketing, or any other purpose in perpetuity, without further approval or any compensation.

9:00am CST

Opening Plenary: Ode to Joy - A life with dragonflies Rooms 21-25 & 30-34Marla Garrison

10:15am CST

Bat Conservation is Human Conservation. Room 48Lara Sviatko Busting Bubbly Barriers on the Chicago River's South Branch Rooms 55, 57Krystyna Kurth • Sage Rossman Ditch Your Ditch: The Village of Downers Grove Bioswale Program Bioswale Program Room 47Kristin Dumoulin Engaging Refugees: The Power of Place-Based Education for Newcomer Populations Room 43Shana Wills • Jacqui Ulrich • Lina Al Maeeni • Payman Rajaie • Wagdi Abdelmouli Harnessing Passion and Collaboration: Elevating Community Engagement and Education to New Heights through Social Media Room 50Jennifer Rydzewski • Anamari Dorgan • Ashley Chex • Jonathan Mullen • Rianna Schwartz Neurodiversity and Birding Rooms 54, 56, 58Jim Giocomo • Ashley Hendee Why You Need a Sustainability Group in Your Town Room 51Beth Drucker • Kim Stone • KT Petersen Climate VIP's: Increasing youth engagement in climate education by making it personal Room 42Jessica Stevens Planting the Future: Teaching Kids to Appreciate and Protect Native Ecosystems Room 45Michelle Bolander 500 Species on 20 Acres: Re-Inventorying “The Island of Rare Plants” Room 26Ryan Sorrells Boats and Bladderworts: Modeling Plant Murderers Room 40Alex Risdal • Spencer Dzyacky The Humble Bumblebee: Pollinator Powerhouse Room 44Robert Sullivan Buffalo Grove Prairie: 35 years of TLC for a Small Remnant in Suburbia Room 41Jeff Weiss • David Bart Nine Stories - that taught me and others Room 27Stephen Packard The Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis explained: ecosystem dynamics with applied science for progress in the practice of ecological restoration. Room 46Will Overbeck Arena Birds: Saving the Uncommon Nighthawk Rooms 52, 53 - Avian Collective presented by Illinois Audubon SocietyStephanie Beilke • Mason Fidino • Edward Warden Beavers As Ecosystem Engineers Room 28Rachel Schick Siegel • Jeff Boland-Prom Ecology of Oak Masting Cycles and Red-Headed Woodpecker Behavior: How Weather Drives Acorn Production and Wildlife Dynamics Room 29Anastasia Rahlin • Addy Yoder Putting the Magic in Cicada: Findings from the Magicicada Soundmap Project Room 49Negin Almassi

11:15am CST

The Enchantment of Light: How Earth’s Star Can Bring Magic to Your Nature Experience Room 40Mike MacDonald The Interdisciplinary Art of Nature Journaling Room 28Carrie Carlson Chicagoland Botany: A Perspective Room 47Bill McKnight Community Leader Model: Community-Informed Engagement Work Rooms 59, 60Gloria Orozco • Joy Bailey • Sydney Armstead • Max Davis • Elizabeth Chambers Engaging the Public in Water Quality Monitoring Room 42Hannah Griffis • Danelle Haake Engaging with Elected Officials on the Environment Room 29Bridget Degnen • Ann Williams • Laura Fine • Patricia Theresa Flynn In Plain Site: Lessons from Working with Municipalities to Establish Native Plants at Scale Room 48Catherine Bryla • Mary Ann Lema Origin Stories: How We Get Hooked on Stewardship Room 51Sharon Rosenzweig Out In Nature: Creating Safe Spaces in Nature for the Queer Community Room 27Henry Adams • CJ Greco • Brian Forist Stop Awareness-Raising and Start Behavior-Changing! Room 46Stephanie Foerster Updating the Illinois Big Tree Register (IBTR) Room 41Christopher David Benda Becoming a Watershed Warrior Room 43Gary Swick • Courtney Boe • Katelin Shields Johnson Extent and consequences of chemical trespass in Illinois ecosystems Rooms 54, 56, 58David Zaya • Kim Erndt-Pitcher • Marty Kemper Cemetery Prairies: A Matter of Life and Death Rooms 24, 25Jack Shouba Just Add Water – Restoring Shallow Wetlands for Wildlife Rooms 55, 57Lisa Woolford • Eric Mollahan Let it Burn!: The History and Practice of Prescribed Burning Room 26Matt Hokanson Restoring oak ecosystems: goals and techniques Rooms 30, 31Christos Economou Saving Aquatic Species: “Mussel Matters” Film Screening and Conservation Efforts at the Urban Stream Research Center Room 50Jonathan Mullen • Lea Rodbarry • Andres Ortega Birds in the Garden: Creating & Enjoying a Bird Oasis Room 44Pam Karlson Illinois' State Wildlife Action Plan Room 45Leon Hinz Long-term monitoring of grassland bird populations at Springbrook Prairie Forest Preserve, DuPage County Room 49Joe Suchecki Sharing our Shore and the Successful Return of the Endangered Piping Plovers Back to Waukegan Beaches Rooms 52, 53 - Avian Collective presented by Illinois Audubon SocietyDiane Rosenberg • Glen Moss • Brad Semel • Carolyn Lueck • Lisa Rundle

12:00pm CST

Lunch Break Rooms 21-23 & 32-34

12:30pm CST

Touching Hearts to Inspire Action: The Art of Bell Bowl Prairie Room 44Jessie Crow Mermel Active Golf Course Turned Nature Preserve: Harnessing the Power of Lumberjacks Rooms 55, 57Megan Hart • Chris Broch Come for the Raptors, Stay for the Message - Strategies in Building Connections in our Communities for Conservation Room 29Nabeel Rasheed • David Felice Community Engagement at Clark Street Beach Bird Sanctuary Room 41Robert Linsenmeier Launching the Illinois Native Plant Conservation Alliance Room 28Brian Charles Expanding and democratizing science through teen-created research projects Rooms 54, 56, 58David Bild Inclusion Strategies for Early Childhood Programs Room 49Sarah Blazer • Kelly Reina • Jill Damato Enhancing the benefits of community gardens for pollinators and people in Chicago Room 45Andrea Flores gROWing Chicago: How Rights-of-Way Can Create and Connect Pollinator Habitat in the Chicago Wilderness Region and Beyond Room 46Catherine O’Reilly Native plant migrations and contemporary range boundaries in relation to ecoregions and climate change Rooms 30, 31Will Overbeck Shifts in timing of spring and fall events over 29 years in an Illinois forest Room 26David Zaya Conserving and restoring the threatened butternut tree (Juglans cinerea, aka white walnut) Room 48Emma Leavens • Gavin Salas • Sean Hoban Restoring ecologically healthy shorelines at Indian Ridge Marsh Room 43Katie Kucera • Harry Kuttner Roll call! Post-invasive cattail management implications for seeding of native species and habitat for waterbirds Room 50Madeline 'Madi' Palmquist • MacKenzie Michaels Snake Road: Reshaping Attitudes Towards Snakes Through Landscape Management Room 27Johnny Baakliny The Chiwuakee Prairie - Illinois Beach Lake Plain Collaborative Room 47Belynda Alberte Cook County Birding Big Year: A Story of Passion, Disappearing Birds, and How We Save What's Left Rooms 52, 53 - Avian Collective presented by Illinois Audubon SocietyTarik Shahzad Lessons From The Reintroduction of State-Endangered Blanding’s Turtles Rooms 24, 25Callie Klatt Golba • Gary Glowacki • Kathryn McCabe • Richard King Looking in the wrong place: locally-extirpated species of deer mouse finds refuge in degraded habitat Room 42Angelica Bahena • Adam W. Ferguson • Arielle Parsons • Zoe Leone • Molly M. McDonough

1:15pm CST

Giant ants and butterflies bring nature and community together Room 43Dana Sievertson • John Kamysz • Kate Tully • Mara Lovisetto • Cathy OShea Building Resilient Volunteer Communities Room 27Dave Lynn • Jane Jordan • Justin Berchiolli • Alice Berchiolli • Jo Sabath It Takes a Village: Fighting Climate Impacts and Biodiversity Loss One Urban Parcel at a Time Room 47Colleen McVeigh • Andrew Smerczak-Zorza • Michael Sewall Where do we begin; Impactful stories for social media Rooms 59, 60Esther Ikoro Biodiversity Surveys & Zines Room 51Ayesha T. Qazi-Lampert The Giant Puffball: Meet Illinois' first official state mushroom and the students who made it happen Room 40Erin Hemmer • Laura McCoy Nature Talks: Turning Words into Action Rooms 54, 56, 58Brian Ellis Pembroke Preservation Alliance Room 42Jacob Campbell • Kim Roman • Johari Cole-Kweli • Cassie Skaggs • Mihesha Gibbs Speaking for Illinois Wetlands: A Grassroots Response to SCOTUS Room 29Ellicia Sanchez • David McEllis • Emily Kowalski TIERRA: Integrating Nature Based Solutions with Community Based Psychology Room 50Jess Rodriguez • Shreya Aragula Insect Photography for Conservation: Going Beyond the Pretty Photo Room 28Susan Kirt Pollen Specialist Bees: Host Plants, Threats, Conservation Rooms 30, 31Heather Holm Assessing Oak Woodland Ecological Integrity and Restorability Room 26Dan Carter Bats: Why we need to conserve them and how you can help Rooms 24, 25Johnny Baakliny • Joy O'Keefe Conservation through time, in time?: Comments on 40 years observing and managing natural lands Room 48Floyd Catchpole Death By A Thousand Cuts - Encroachment! Rooms 55, 57John McCabe Environmental DNA: what land stewards want to know about this new technique Room 49Aster Hasle Plants of Concern: Community Science Rare Plant Monitoring in Action Room 44Christopher David Benda • Gretel Kiefer • Grant Fessler Chicago Black-crowned Night Heron Panel Discussion Rooms 52, 53 - Avian Collective presented by Illinois Audubon SocietyMike Ward • Henry Adams • Brad Semel • Sarah Slayton • Amy Lardner • Jo Fessett • Michael Avara Illinois & Beyond! Herpetological research at the Field Museum Room 45Sara Ruane • Arianna Kuhn • Madelynn Sinclair Surveying the Creeks of Cook County Room 46Steve Silic

2:15pm CST

Avoesis: Learning to listen in a noisy city Room 45Liam Heneghan Breaking Down Barriers to Nature: A Conversation with Access Living and Openlands on Creating Inclusive Outdoor Experiences Room 43Huan Song Engaging Volunteer Leaders to Shape the Future of the Volunteer Stewardship Network Room 49Brooke Thurau • Caleb Grantham Inclusive Nature Programming, An Experiential Flow Room 29Cassandra Powell • Ayanna London • ZenFrankie Johnson • Rebekah Joy Hall Natural Land Institute's Legacy Tree Project Room 42Kim Johnsen • Alan Branhagen Systemic Racism and Urban Ecology: Applications in Community Science Room 27Joy Bailey • Zelle Tenorio Exploring floral networks for bees, beetles, flies, wasps, ants, and bugs Rooms 24, 25Angella Moorehouse • K.C. Carter Eco-restoration in Chicagoland and Southern India: A personal journey Rooms 54, 56, 58Sai Ramakrishna Nature's New Ally: Can AI (Artificial Intelligence) Fix What We Broke? Room 26Evan Barker • Philip Willink • Robb Telfer Propagation of Hemi-parasitic Native Plants Room 28Luke Dahlberg Quit Herbiciding Thistles (in Natural Area Restorations) Rooms 30, 31Julianne Mason Stewardship Decisions: Balancing Risks & Rewards Room 48Louis Mule Working with Your Local Utility Room 41Kelvin Limbrick Bat Tracker Community Science: Insights after Seven Years Room 47Liza Lehrer • Sean Obrochta • Thomas Murphy • Gary Morrissey Birds and Biodiversity: Protecting and Restoring Habitat for Grassland Birds in the Tallgrass Prairie Region Room 44Jaron Cook Lessons learned confronting predator killing contests Room 46Jane McBride • David Parsons, MS Muirhead Springs: A Mitigation Bank & Migratory Bird Success Story Rooms 55, 57Sadie Dainko Northern Saw-whet Owls: Our Secretive Winter Neighbors Rooms 52, 53 - Avian Collective presented by Illinois Audubon SocietyMichael Avara

3:15pm CST

The Non-Filmmaker’s Guide to Filmmaking Room 49Bob Dolgan Community Scientists and Fungal Conservation Room 47Gregory M. Mueller Natural History of Chicago Area Hunting Wasps and Parasitoids Room 50Terry Miesle • alan molumby A Decision Procedure to Minimize Impacts from Prescribed Fire on Selected Sensitive Wildlife Species Room 27Tom Velat • Nick Fuller A nine-year experiment testing the ability of wood betony to reduce the dominance of tall prairie grasses and tall goldenrod. Room 28Thomas Simpson Brush pile burn scar recovery trajectories and techniques for speeding recovery Rooms 30, 31Emma Leavens • Meghan Midgley • Tony Del Vallé Following Nature's Calendar: A Long-term Phenology Project to Monitor Seasonal Changes and Inform Management Practices Room 29Adam Rembert Oak woodland restoration at Somme Woods: summer scything and seeds work make all the difference Room 44Eriko Kojima Prairies in the city? Conservation, Community Engagement and Stewardship Working Together for People and Nature Room 45Dr. Debra Williams • Karl Gnaedinger • Shane Tripp Preserving a Legacy: Conservation in Southern Illinois Room 42Caleb Grantham Red Gate Woods: The Forest Preserves of Cook County’s Largest Ever Ecological Restoration Project Room 26Troy Showerman • Sam Pirruccello The Chicago Region - A Critical Migratory Bird Corridor: Habitat Management Needs Room 46Eric Secker • BOB FISHER 2024 Brood XIII Periodical Cicadas Rooms 55, 57Carl Strang Chicago Purple Martin Program Room 43Lauren Nassef Examining Coyote Behavioral Tendencies Via Novel Object Testing Rooms 24, 25Katie Baughman Factors impacting the decline of eastern Whip-poor-wills in Illinois, and what we can do the recover the species Rooms 52, 53 - Avian Collective presented by Illinois Audubon SocietyMike Ward • Michael Avara • TJ Benson • Grant Witynski • Dave Edlund • Holly Coates Making River Restoration Work for Migratory Birds Rooms 54, 56, 58Lauren Umek • Nathan Gill • Raed Mansour • Matt Igleski Scouting Grows Conservation Activity Room 41Jim Honan • Wayne Schimpff The Art of Collecting Woody Seeds Room 40Connor Shaw

4:15pm CST

Community Roots: Bottom-up Approaches to Tree Stewardship and Advocacy Room 41Mia Howerton • Sam Works • Varak Bosnoian • Paul Gordon Healthy Hedges: Buckthorn Removal and Getting Folks to Care Room 28Brett Peto • Matthew Ueltzen Local Advocacy 101: Overcoming Conservation Challenges by Effectively Leveraging Public and Political Support Room 47Bridget Jakubiak • David Jakubiak Empowering Preschoolers as Environmental Stewards Room 49Megan Gessler • Lisa Gaynor EJ-ucation through the Arts: Teaching the next generation of activists using art and music Rooms 54, 56, 58Dani Abboud • Eddie Flores Community Science as an Avenue for Mutually Beneficial Relationships Between People, Plants and Pollinators Room 42Nicole Machuca • Mario Longoni Monitoring Plant-Pollinator Networks to Inform Restoration Strategies Room 44Dan Sandacz 24 years of sand hill prairie restoration results in north central Illinois Rooms 59, 60James Alwill Lessons in Using Rope Dodder to Control Tall/Canada Goldenrod and Sawtooth Sunflower Room 45Luke Dahlberg Mushrooms of Illinois Rooms 30, 31Andrew Miller Recovering and establishing prairie and savanna with frequent fire and keystone species Room 46Rich Henderson Rethinking Lawns: lawn alternative plantings in natural areas and at home Rooms 24, 25Rebecca Barak • Lauren Umek • Liz Anna Kozik Seeding the future – developing the seed amplification program at the Forest Preserves of Cook County Room 43Iza Redlinski • Molly Marz • Elliot Medina Selecting Trees for Removal in Oak Savanna and Woodland Restorations Room 27Ben Davies The Dark Side of Habitat Restoration Room 26Valerie Blaine 20 years in the flatwoods: challenges, changes, and amphibian conservation outcomes Rooms 55, 57Allison Sacerdote-Velat Bird migration through urban landscapes: challenges and opportunities Rooms 52, 53 - Avian Collective presented by Illinois Audubon SocietyBenjamin Van Doren Coordinating Oak Ecosystem Restoration on Private Lands Room 40Jordan Winkenbach • Ysabella Freeman Guiding Migratory Bird Stopover Habitat Conservation in the Illinois Coastal Zone Room 50Stephanie Beilke Herping as the new birding: Connecting with our scaly friends, responsibly. Room 29Regina Witherell-Poe Raptors Adapting To The Human Environment Room 48Vic Berardi Return of the Prairie Cicadas Room 51Prudence Davies • Mitch Woods • Phoebe Davies • Scott Saffer • Luke Tompkins

5:00pm CST

Closing Plenary/Social Hour/Poster Session Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Joey Santore A Race Against Typha: Evaluating the Impacts of Typha angustifolia in an Inland Salt Marsh Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Macy Gustafson Anthropogenic impacts on painted turtles (Chrysemys picta): Effects of human-derived sounds on nesting and development Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Beth A. Reinke • Sara S Crow Avian Acorn Herbivory in a Midwestern Oak Savanna Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Paige Terpstra • Derek Rosenberger Before and After: Through Soil Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Ellie Wasilewski Building Resilience in the River's Shallows Using the Power of Plants Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Kristine Lorenzo Capture Rates of Four Species of Snakes Utilizing Plywood vs Rubber Artificial Cover Objects at The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Jasmine Dwyer • Susan Lawrence Celebrating 50 Years of Restoration at the College of DuPage Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Susan Kirt Comparison of Assessing High Versus Low Effort Sampling Protocols for Benthic Macroinvertebrates in Streams Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Vanessa Ortega • John Griffis Darien Garden Club supports Wild Things TOO! Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Cathy Streett • Christine Bosacki Deciphering Invasion Patterns: Familial Analysis of Non-Native Plant Species in North America Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Sofia Al-Shayeb Determining the correlation between phenotype and carotenoids concentration in Painted turtles Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Cesilia Aguilar Ditch Maintenance With a Conscience Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Janice Aull • Grace Reilly • Elizabeth Friday Effects of interannual variation in climate on breeding bird demography in a postindustrial wetland Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Stephanie Beilke • Lila Fried Effects of Small-Scale Burning and Mowing on Restored Prairie Plant Communities Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Jillian Becksfort • David Hoekman Enhancing Monitoring and Management with Geospatial Technology and Drones Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Virginia McHugh-Kurtz • Joseph Angermeier • Crystal Peirce • Mukila Maitha • Jackson Zinck • Fernanda De Souza Ramos Kuzuhara Glacial topography of the Chicago Region Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Jeff Daube How to be a good neighbor: An investigation of associational resistance through plant community characteristics Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Sarah Romy Integrative Strategies for Remediating Allelopathy: Physicochemical and Biological Approaches Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Yairely Marchan Interactions between Midwest flora & fauna Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Catherine Hu Invasional Meltdown of Plant Communities in Illinois Wetlands Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Coleman Earnest Native plants and pollinators in Chicagoland Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Rika Mizoguchi Orchid Appreciation Society Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Maggie Warren Photograms of native plants Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Ken Schaefer Population health and demographics of semi-urban snake communities in Cook County, Illinois Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Liz Hucker Promoting bog conservation through botanical illustration Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Cael Dant Remote sensing to evaluate environmental damage in inaccessible areas: A Gaza wetland case study Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Laura Shihadah Seasonal Use of DuPage County Savanna Preserves by Red-Headed Woodpeckers Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Derek Rosenberger • Charlie Leys • Sam Elsen Seasonal Variations in Urban Wetlands Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Riley Coomer Seeing the whole pitcher: understanding the relationship between the purple pitcher plant and its microbial communities Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Cael Dant Springtails: The Ancient Key to Boosting Global Biodiversity Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Alexander Czempinski Stewardship and Creating Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Sima Shah Supporting Monarch Population Growth in an Urban Environment Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Edwin Quiroz The Effect of Urban Native Landscaping on Species Abundance, Richness, and Diversity in Comparison to Urban Ornamental Landscaping Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Claudia Morrison • Tess Lesniak The effect of urbanization intensity on bumblebee-plant network structure and floral resource topological roles Rooms 21-23 & 32-34K.C. Carter The effects of salinity levels on Invasive plant species Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Zaria George • Gabriela Nunez-Mir The Environmental Beauty of the Calumet Region Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Blake Lenoir The How to: Creating a BIPOC Conservation based Fellowship (FUEGO: Fellows United for Conservation, Growth, and Opportunity) Rooms 21-23 & 32-34YLANDA WILHITE • Kiana Creese The impact of competition with pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata) and invasive cattail (Typha × glauca) on the growth of northern wild rice (Zizania palustris) Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Megan Wenner The influence of canopy loss on understory plant invasions across the eastern United States Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Eduardo Tovar The Power of Adaptive Management: Floristic Quality Trends at Barrington Greenways Initiative Sites Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Karen Glennemeier Tiny Remnants Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Allison Hausladen Unearthed: Art and Transformation Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Pamela Sloan Urban Salt Marshes, Novel Ecosystem Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Payman Rajaie Using LiDAR as a method to detecting invasive shrubs in southern Illinois Rooms 21-23 & 32-34Ellie James