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.

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