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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Fungi are among the most diverse and ecological important group of organisms on earth. They also directly benefit people as food, sources of medicines, etc. Unfortunately, they are not immune to the threats that put species of animals and plants at risk including habitat loss and degradation, invasive species, loss of symbiotic hosts, pollution, over exploitation, and climate change. Yet, efforts to conserve them lag far behind actions on animals and plants. Progress is being made, but there is much work yet to be done. Because fungal diversity and distributions are still poorly documented, there is great opportunity for discovery. Thus, community scientists can make significant contributions. There is a long history of amateur mycologists and other field naturalists contributing important data, but for the most part, their efforts have not been coordinated, and the results of their findings were often not captured. While websites like iNaturalist and Mushroom Observer now provide a platform to capture observation data, the information on these sites are for the most part random observations, and efforts are not coordinated to target gaps in knowledge on species of interest. Several recent initiatives are addressing these issues and are providing individuals with the opportunity to make meaningful contributions to efforts focused on documenting fungal diversity and their conservation.
