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.
Sign up or log in to bookmark your favorites and sync them to your phone or calendar.
Butternut (Juglans cinerea, aka white walnut) is a threatened tree in the walnut genus which was once ecologically and economically important, and has deep cultural significance. It has been suffering severe decline since the 1960s due to a fungal pathogen. Our presentation will discuss the state of butternut health in the region, ongoing research by The Morton Arboretum to better understand its ecology and disease resistance, and how a little stewardship may go a long way to promote conservation and recovery. We will share our observations in local preserves, including of healthy and dying mature trees as well as seedlings in Chicago region preserves. We look forward to discussion and ideas.