Wild Things 2025

Humans and animals have existed side by side for thousands of years. But some species of animal have an easier coexistence with us. In order to thrive humans depend on animals for numerous ecosystem services. Bats provide many such services. This interactive talk looks at the ways in which the western world views bats and opens a dialogue about how humans and bats are each better because of with the existence of the other.

Urban Rivers and Shedd Aquarium have partnered to host weekly Community Nights at Park 571 at the confluence of Bubbly Creek on the South Branch of the Chicago River to provide opportunities for members of the Bridgeport, McKinley Park, and Pilsen communities to engage with the river via science and kayaking opportunities. From fishing to water quality testing and getting eye to eye with man made floating wetland habitats we have seen individuals' excitement and visions for the river’s future grow. Join us as we reflect on a summer of sharing joy and finding healing spaces in nature.

The Village of Downers Grove has a commitment to stormwater management, to reduce flooding, and improve stormwater quality. This commitment led them to implement a stormwater utility fee, in order to improve stormwater management throughout the Village. This fee can be reduced for landowners if they provide qualifying rain barrels, rain gardens, permeable pavers, and other projects that reduce the total volume or peak volume of stormwater, and/or improve the quality of stormwater leaving a parcel. Examples include green roofs, cisterns, and other Best Management Practices. As part of the overall stormwater management plan, the Village of Downers Grove commenced its innovative Green Streets/ Sustainable Stormwater (Bioswale) Program in 2012.
The Bioswale Program is a public/private partnership developed to convert existing roadside drainage ditches into beautiful, beneficial landscape areas, at no cost to the homeowner. Each year, residents apply for a grant to construct a bioswale on their property, and funds are applied on a first-come, first-served basis. Village staff work with the homeowners to verify that the desired location is appropriate, to coordinate the design of the bioswale, and to assist in the selection of custom plants that are suitable for their site and that meet personal preferences. Upon approval, the Village prepares the site and installs live, native plants. The Village provides routine maintenance of each site, including mowing and weeding, for the first year, after which residents assume all management responsibility. Benefits of these bioswales are plentiful. The deep root systems of the native plants reduce stormwater runoff up to 30% and improve water quality of creeks and streams by filtering pollutants. Bioswales replenish ground water levels in local aquifers and reduce mosquitoes by absorbing stagnant water. They save time and money, as they require less watering and mowing than traditional landscaping, which also reduces air pollution. The bioswales enhance aesthetics while attracting wildlife, such as birds, butterflies, bees and dragonflies. Due to the success of these bioswales, consistent increases in homeowner applications to the Program have been noted.

Join us for a discussion about the acculturation process for newcomer populations, common integration barriers, and effective solutions using nature therapy and ecopedagogy. Presenters will describe the Refugee Education and Adventure Challenge (REACH) model, which works to increase newcomer communities' access to natural environments and outdoor learning experiences. REACH Peer Mentors (refugee youth leaders) will provide insight into the transformative growth they've experienced through deeper engagement with the natural world and others. We will also share recent outcomes of a collaborative initiative with the Forest Preserves of Cook County to connect more newcomer communities to nature. In this workshop, participants will develop an understanding of acculturation as a multi-dimensional process and consider avenues for newcomers to engage in and actively contribute to their programs, organizations, and communities.

In the dynamic landscape of social media, the convergence of passion, expertise, and creativity can result in powerful collaboration to transform public engagement and education from ordinary to extraordinary. This session explores how organizations can effectively leverage social media to share information, enhance learning, and meaningfully engage communities. A case-study of a viral series created by The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County will share ways individuals from multiple disciplines came together to harness their passion, technical and creative skills, and knowledge to develop compelling, fun, and educational social media content that increased awareness of the District’s conservation mission.

The American Bird Conservancy through our Conservation and Justice Program has built activities to support a Pop-Up Neurodiverse Nature Trail with Birding Activities, celebrating nature while promoting understanding of neurodiversity. The activities feature tools and equipment in a self-contained trailer to support an accessible trail designed for individuals with autism, ADHD, and sensory processing differences, providing an inclusive nature experience for neurodiverse individuals and their families. The events aim to foster awareness, engage participants in bird-watching and conservation, and strengthen community bonds.

Beth Drucker and Kim Stone, founders and co-facilitators of Go Green Illinois, will show you why your community would benefit from a citizen’s sustainability group and how to start one today. Learn how suburbs all over Chicagoland have started groups with just a few people and limited funding. Beth and Kim will review the history of Go Green Illinois and share some of the many successes and challenges of member groups, and how regional collaboration helps us have a greater impact.  

KT Peterson of Go Green Des Plaines will provide examples of some of the ways her group has made progress in just two years since they were founded.

You’ll leave with a clear idea of what steps to take to become the next Go Green group.

I will share stories from the unmatched history of Chicagoland botany with emphasis on the parts (people, places and things) I experienced firsthand. Will include thoughts about the future regarding botany and natural history study.

Hear from the Friends of the Forest Preserves team about our four-year running community leader engagement model. We will be joined by Friends staff, as well as two community leaders to hear from them about their experience. What’s a community leader? For this session, a community leader is a member from the neighborhoods we are working to bring events and volunteer opportunities to. Community leaders have assisted at events, hosted and recruited participants for focus groups, helped with outreach efforts, helped build new connections to people and organizations, worked with event partners, recruited event attendees throughout the year, and provided valuable insight into local interests.

Community science is a great way to inform the public about the natural world while also collecting data for projects. National Great Rivers offers several community science opportunities allowing volunteers to learn about and become stewards of Illinois waterbodies. In this presentation, we will describe our community science programs, share how new volunteers can get involved, and summarize some of the data from our most active programs: Illinois RiverWatch, Winter Chloride Watch, and a freshwater mussel monitoring project in the Upper Sangamon River.

This session will be a panel of 3 elected officials and one moderator. The purpose is to educate attendees on how local elected officials can collaborate on environmental issues and make positive change. The chosen officials for the panel are all outstanding environmental advocates who have strong relationships with environmental organizations. Collaboration between elected officials and constituents is imperative to policy-making and finding solutions to the most pressing environmental issues.

This presentation will dive into our playbook for successfully working with municipalities to introduce native plants at scale. We’ll share hard lessons learned along the way, including how to navigate common challenges like watering accountability, ongoing stewardship, and building lasting partnerships. A key focus will be on packaging: rather than pushing for full rewilding upfront, we’ve found that a gradual, strategic approach yields early successes and helps slowly shift perspectives. By taking small, calculated steps first, we can build momentum quickly toward larger native plant initiatives.

Stewardship storytime! How did you get started as a volunteer? What sustains your involvement? Was there an experience that changed your life? Something you learned that you didn't expect? Maybe an "Oh, how wrong I was!" memory?

This is sociology, a start, with stories. The goal is to glean ways to build and support our volunteer community.

Out In Nature is a local community affinity group that creates an accessible, positive environment for all LGBTQIA+ individuals to connect, explore, and experience nature and the outdoors, and it has been doing so since 2019. Our goal at Wild Things will be to share with conferencegoers how to best make nature spaces safe, welcoming, and accessible for the queer community. We will talk about past events, our community engagement and outreach strategies and events, and our history as queer naturalists and an organization. Out In Nature has partnered with organizations like The Nature Conservancy, Lincoln Park Zoo, Indiana Dunes National Park, Cook and Lake County Forest Preserves, and many more local conservation organizations.

Our inboxes and channels are flooded with awareness-raising messages to protect our natural world. However, this type of outreach does little to actually change our individual behavior. In this interactive session, participants will learn the fundamentals of behavior change strategies and will identify a conservation behavior to target.

The Illinois Big Tree Register (IBTR) is a statewide outreach program that seeks to discover, record, recognize, and appreciate the largest individuals of our native tree species. Chris Benda will discuss his role in updating the IBTR and show photographs of some of the most impressive trees in the state.

Canal Shores, a non-profit golf course, is redefining how community green spaces can serve diverse purposes. While half of our land is dedicated to maintaining an affordable and inclusive golf course open to all, the other half is a 40-acre restoration in progress featuring a three-mile hiking trail along the canal, built entirely through grassroots volunteer efforts. Since creating a management plan in 2016, we’ve gained momentum, hiring a full-time ecology staff member in 2024 to further our mission. Join us to explore how we’ve engaged the community in environmental stewardship and restoration, the challenges we’ve faced, and the successes we’ve achieved in transforming green spaces for everyone.

How do we solve the critical issues we are facing today with our environment?
What are the most effective strategies to address these urgent environmental challenges?

There is no single answer, and we are all still working toward that, but what we do know is that humans are the key. Getting people involved all the way from the grassroots level is going to be the driving force in creating those solutions and putting them into action.

For over 10 years, we at Wings and Talons have been working with ambassador birds of prey as our partners in live educational presentations as a gateway to get people connected with our environment and jumpstart their involvement in conservation. Join us to see how a grassroots organization that is powered by volunteers, donations and passion has been reaching thousands of people of all ages to create and nurture these connections. In this session, we'll share the approaches we use, the strategies we employ, and the lessons we have learned.

The Clark Street Beach Bird Sanctuary (CSBBS) is on Lake Michigan just south of the Northwestern University campus. The two-acre CSBBS was created in 2015 by connecting existing migrating bird habitats to include part of the beach. In addition to many regular volunteers who monitor migratory birds, plant, weed, and water, we have ongoing relationships with local companies, churches, and student groups for special workdays; we work with summer camps, including one for indigenous youth; we collaborate with the city on activities; and we engaged a garden club in designing a new natural area to replace an overgrown area. In our prominent site we also have frequent conversations with passersby. All these serve to increase education about natural habitat and conservation as well as improving the sanctuary. We will share our methods for engaging the Evanston community, which may be useful for other small natural areas.

Effective plant conservation at large scales requires collaboration between many community members and agencies. However, there is often a lack of formal partnerships between stakeholders who could benefit from working with each other. Native plant conservation alliances are designed to align priorities and centralize resources so that anyone working on plant conservation can access a network of beneficial partners. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources will be launching the Illinois Native Plant Conservation Alliance, and we are seeking to involve anyone who works with Illinois native seed collection, propagation, restoration, and conservation. We will be holding a native plant summit in fall 2025 to formally launch the alliance and welcome all interested stakeholders to join.

The Peregrines are a new group that is connecting younger volunteers to preserves and places worth preserving across northeastern Illinois. Over the last year and a half, we’ve worked at over 40 different natural areas alongside many site stewards and have learned a lot about what it takes to organize and sustain volunteer communities. We’ll provide perspectives on our experiences and will invite participants to reflect on and share what's worked for them.

For several years, residents on the north side of Chicago have encouraged and helped their neighbors convert urban parcels into small habitats, learn about composting, and care for the urban forest canopy.  The 47th Ward hosts a Green Council which promotes environmental awareness and action and serves as a means for neighborhood groups to connect.  

Through community events hosted by each group and the ward, neighbors share best practices, resources and plants in their efforts to create healthy habitats in parkways and yards and on right of ways land, such as the Metra rail line. The area boasts over 10 community groups working together to create a more sustainable urban future. We would like to share our strategies and lessons learned with others.

This presentation will explore sustainable methods for creating and sharing impactful, science-based stories and other content through social media. The mechanics of social media often pressure us to create content solely to satisfy the algorithm. This process can be exhausting and unfulfilling for everyone involved. We will discuss ways to get closer to our unique perspectives and create a realistic plan of action and feedback to have the best shot at connecting with a genuinely engaged audience over time.

Discover how Openlands and Access Living, recipients of the inaugural Partnerships for Disability Access, Inclusion, and Leadership Grant from the Land Trust Alliance, are working to expand accessibility in outdoor recreation. This session highlights key findings from the initial phase of the grant project, including insights from focus groups with people with disabilities in Illinois. Attendees will learn about critical challenges—such as the lack of detailed accessibility information, physical and environmental barriers, and transportation and navigation difficulties—and actionable solutions, with a focus on enhanced communication tools. With nearly 25% of the U.S. population living with a disability, this work addresses a vital need while offering practical insights into the current state of inclusive outdoor recreation. Whether you work in education, government, land management, or simply a nature enthusiast, this session will provide strategies to ensure your projects and spaces welcome people of all abilities. Join us for a conversation about making the outdoors a place of belonging for everyone.

In June 2024, southern Illinois leaders from twenty-nine organizations participated in the Volunteer Stewardship Network’s (VSN) annual gathering to discuss regional challenges and best practices regarding volunteer recruitment and retention, non-native invasive species, environmental justice, local food, and ecological restoration and stewardship. Key takeaways from the meeting, as well as data collected through a statewide survey and other regional gatherings across the state, will inform a strategic plan to shape the VSN’s priorities for the future, strengthen network support, and inspire collaboration and synergy. In the first part of this session, participants will learn about the VSN, its strategic plan, and insights gleaned from the survey and in-person meetings. In the second part of the session, audience members will be invited to share their own insights and experiences on the topics listed above.

Learn how to engage and sustain long-term relationships in Black and Brown communities by reconnecting to nature through interactive healing modalities. Experience nature-inspired meditation, sound healing, and discussion in this experiential workshop. Equitable access to nature positively impacts individuals from BIPOC communities with the ability to heal from trauma, improve interpersonal relationships, and further help to address racial injustice or inequities in natural spaces. Light of Loving Kindness specializes in creating Outdoor Rx programs, including Self Love in Nature, Camping While Black, and Self Love Bootcamp. Our programs engage individuals from Black and Brown communities in a meaningful relationship with nature through our unique blend of holistic wellness practices and education.

Trees play a significant role in the wildness of a landscape, neighborhood or community and most people can identify with them. The Natural Land Institute's (NLI) Legacy Tree program was a community outreach and engagement strategy to draw attention to the rich heritage of trees in NLI's 12 county service area (Rockford known as the Forest City). The program, which began in January 2024 has been far more successful than planned with nominations from across northern and northwestern Illinois. Monthly tree stories about nominated trees specifically draw attention to the nature engaging attributes of a tree species. Eight new state champion trees have been identified in as many months. The program will share the objectives and outcomes of this successful community engagement program.

Ever wonder why warblers flock to wealthier neighborhoods? The unequal distribution of birds and other species is not an accident. In this session, we will cover an introduction to systematic racism and various impacts it has on our urban ecology. We will share a case study of how we used the lens of birds and birding to demonstrate concrete examples of how systemic and environmental racism play out in our ecosystem, and how we activated this knowledge and applied it to our Illinois Master Naturalist efforts, namely through community science. We will close by asking session participants to share past, current or future efforts to incorporate these important concerns in our engagement events in order to learn from and inspire one another.

Community engagement comes in many different forms for The Morton Arboretum’s Chicago Region Trees Initiative (CRTI) program, and our community partners are the foundation of CRTI. CRTI’s Stewardship and Tree Ambassador programs take a bottom-up approach to urban forestry, working with more than 40 groups in 2024 to get over 2,800 trees planted in the Chicago region. These collaborative approaches contribute to increasing local capacity for tree advocacy and care, as well as improving the health of our urban forests. In this presentation, we will share the adaptive and creative ways we collaborate with community partners.

It's a problem you can't unsee. The invasive species common, or European, buckthorn is the most abundant tree in Lake County, Illinois and the Chicago region. As an issue that spans public and private lands, community engagement is vital for conservation agencies to make long-lasting progress on buckthorn removal.

Since 2015, the Lake County Forest Preserves has crafted methods and messages to inspire private landowners to remove and replace buckthorn with native plants. Environmental Communications Specialist Brett Peto and Matt Ueltzen, manager of restoration ecology, share best practices and tried-and-true resources to help the public. 35-minute presentation with 10–15 minutes for Q&A.

Achieving progress on conservation goals takes both political will and community support. But how can volunteers, program leaders, and communities build that kind of support? David is a strategic community communications professional with more than 20 years of experience working with non profits and green energy companies to build community support for conservation and green energy projects. Bridget has been working as a volunteer conservation commission leader for 8 years and has led the creation of a sustainability plan and two community restoration projects. We'll share tips and tricks to help mobilize community support and how to avoid pitfalls.