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.
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We conducted a research project at a restored prairie near Momence, Illinois (41.155, -87.705) in the growing season of 2024. Our goals were: 1) to characterize the tallgrass prairie plant community in the restored prairie, 2) to compare the existing prairie plant community to the original restoration plans from 2008, and 3) to assess the effects of burning and mowing on the plant community. To assess plant communities we conduced stem counts, line transects, biomass harvesting and soil testing. Line transects quantified the relative abundance of the plant species present in the prairie, and these data are currently being compared to the species lists of seeds and plugs that were originally planted. Stem counts in our experimental plots showed that burning resulted in 259% more large grass stems in comparison to nearby unmanaged areas, while mowing resulted in 77% fewer large grass stems. Additional results are still being processed and analyzed.
