Wild Things 2025

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.

There is increasing concern protected natural areas are being negatively affected by chemical pesticides that strayed from target areas. We characterized the occurrence and concentration of chemical pesticides and symptoms associated with herbicide exposure at 185 randomly selected locations in Illinois, including 102 Illinois Nature Preserves Commission sites. We found at least one pesticide at 97% of sites, with herbicides being the most common class detected. We found visual evidence consistent with herbicide damage for at least 97% of site visits. The strongest predictor of symptom severity and chemical concentration was the area of row crops in the surrounding landscape.

One of the driving goals of the Nature Museum TEENS program is to support science identity, agency, and sense of belonging. The summer program is a 6-week, paid internship that engages 30 Chicago high school students in lab- and field-based activities focused on urban ecology. During the first 3 weeks of the program, teens learn field methods, develop questions, and identify interest areas by contributing to existing Nature Museum projects and participatory science projects, such as iNaturalist, eBird, Caterpillars Count, and Squirrel-Net. In the final 3 weeks of the program, teens work in small groups to develop and carry out field investigations based on shared interests. Their projects are designed in a participatory science and open science model, utilizing low or no cost materials, clear protocols, and ways for the public to contribute. Teens collaboratively develop their own research questions, design protocols and shareable mobile data collection forms, collect and analyze field-based data, post findings on self-created project websites, and share their work at a final project showcase open to the general public. Another unique aspect of the program is that participants learn how to collect and preserve plant and invertebrate specimens, which are incorporated into the museum’s scientific and teaching collections. Participants consistently report feeling connected to a larger community and that they are contributing to something larger than themselves. Additionally, the teen-created projects and public showcase serve to increase participants’ science identity and agency.

In April 2024, the TEENS program became one of six out-of-school time, pre-college STEM programs in the country to earn the first-of-its kind accreditation from Middle States Association Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools (MSA-CESS). The accreditation elevates the critical learning and skills development provided by the TEENS program, promoting equity by increasing the value of these experiences in the higher education admissions process. The accreditation was facilitated through the STEM PUSH Network, an NSF INCLUDES Alliance working to leverage the power of pre-college STEM programs to broaden participation of underrepresented students in STEM.

This session will highlight the program’s pedagogical approaches, including successes and challenges. Presenters will share the program progression through the lens of program participants, sharing teen experiences, participant outcomes, and teen-created projects.

How Storytelling, Advocacy and Environmental Education Can Inspire Concrete Action:
Our stories connect us. They also make abstract ideas visceral. Most importantly, a well-told-tale changes hearts and minds, ignites passion and motivates action. This interactive session will reinvigorate the stories you already know, reshaping them to inspire your audience to do something. You will hear a few good tales and tell one of your own. Most importantly, you will leave this session with the tools and ideas you need to craft the right tale for the right audience. Bring a short success story and notes for your next presentation.

As a person born and brought up in Southern India, I had scant knowledge of its ecology or native flora when I lived there. However, having immigrated to Chicagoland twenty years ago, I have been involved as a volunteer in restoration of sites along the Northbranch of the Chicago River, especially the Somme preserves for over a decade. In the process I have come to recognize many local native species and have developed an understanding for the ecology and native floral community of prairies, savannas, woodlands and their ecotones, thanks to wonderful mentors and fellow volunteers. This has in turn made me wonder about the ecology of Southern India where I spent my formative years, its current state of degradation and whether there is any ecological restoration work that is taking place and if so how it is being conducted. Accordingly, I have been making trips to various places in Southern India the last few years to understand the local ecosystems, the native flora and the ecological restoration that is being undertaken. In this talk I am planning to present from my notes on the ecological restoration in different ecosystems in Southern India that will be of interest to restoration enthusiasts of Chicago and point out the interesting parallels and contrasts in restoration between temperate and tropical natural areas of the globe.

A number of shoreline restorations along the Chicago River have been completed in recent years. We compared three of them - one unrestored, one restored, and one where the clearing and bank restoration happened, but the bulk of woody plants were not yet installed. Hear about the results and research-backed suggestions for improving river bank restoration. 30 minute presentation (4 presenters), 20 minutes for discussion

Environmental justice is not a new fight, but environmental curriculum focused on justice is still growing, and can be daunting to teach-- especially when students and educators experiencing the burden of environmental racism first-hand. Join us for a presentation of how Brushwood Center is leveraging the power of art, music, and performance to transform our EJ curriculum into engaging materials that breakdown tough topics, shine a spotlight on community-led solutions, and inform about local issues through a trauma-informed approach.