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.

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