Wild Things 2025

The American Bird Conservancy through our Conservation and Justice Program has built activities to support a Pop-Up Neurodiverse Nature Trail with Birding Activities, celebrating nature while promoting understanding of neurodiversity. The activities feature tools and equipment in a self-contained trailer to support an accessible trail designed for individuals with autism, ADHD, and sensory processing differences, providing an inclusive nature experience for neurodiverse individuals and their families. The events aim to foster awareness, engage participants in bird-watching and conservation, and strengthen community bonds.

Community science is a great way to inform the public about the natural world while also collecting data for projects. National Great Rivers offers several community science opportunities allowing volunteers to learn about and become stewards of Illinois waterbodies. In this presentation, we will describe our community science programs, share how new volunteers can get involved, and summarize some of the data from our most active programs: Illinois RiverWatch, Winter Chloride Watch, and a freshwater mussel monitoring project in the Upper Sangamon River.

This session will be a panel of 3 elected officials and one moderator. The purpose is to educate attendees on how local elected officials can collaborate on environmental issues and make positive change. The chosen officials for the panel are all outstanding environmental advocates who have strong relationships with environmental organizations. Collaboration between elected officials and constituents is imperative to policy-making and finding solutions to the most pressing environmental issues.

Stewardship storytime! How did you get started as a volunteer? What sustains your involvement? Was there an experience that changed your life? Something you learned that you didn't expect? Maybe an "Oh, how wrong I was!" memory?

This is sociology, a start, with stories. The goal is to glean ways to build and support our volunteer community.

Out In Nature is a local community affinity group that creates an accessible, positive environment for all LGBTQIA+ individuals to connect, explore, and experience nature and the outdoors, and it has been doing so since 2019. Our goal at Wild Things will be to share with conferencegoers how to best make nature spaces safe, welcoming, and accessible for the queer community. We will talk about past events, our community engagement and outreach strategies and events, and our history as queer naturalists and an organization. Out In Nature has partnered with organizations like The Nature Conservancy, Lincoln Park Zoo, Indiana Dunes National Park, Cook and Lake County Forest Preserves, and many more local conservation organizations.

Canal Shores, a non-profit golf course, is redefining how community green spaces can serve diverse purposes. While half of our land is dedicated to maintaining an affordable and inclusive golf course open to all, the other half is a 40-acre restoration in progress featuring a three-mile hiking trail along the canal, built entirely through grassroots volunteer efforts. Since creating a management plan in 2016, we’ve gained momentum, hiring a full-time ecology staff member in 2024 to further our mission. Join us to explore how we’ve engaged the community in environmental stewardship and restoration, the challenges we’ve faced, and the successes we’ve achieved in transforming green spaces for everyone.

How do we solve the critical issues we are facing today with our environment?
What are the most effective strategies to address these urgent environmental challenges?

There is no single answer, and we are all still working toward that, but what we do know is that humans are the key. Getting people involved all the way from the grassroots level is going to be the driving force in creating those solutions and putting them into action.

For over 10 years, we at Wings and Talons have been working with ambassador birds of prey as our partners in live educational presentations as a gateway to get people connected with our environment and jumpstart their involvement in conservation. Join us to see how a grassroots organization that is powered by volunteers, donations and passion has been reaching thousands of people of all ages to create and nurture these connections. In this session, we'll share the approaches we use, the strategies we employ, and the lessons we have learned.

Learn how to engage and sustain long-term relationships in Black and Brown communities by reconnecting to nature through interactive healing modalities. Experience nature-inspired meditation, sound healing, and discussion in this experiential workshop. Equitable access to nature positively impacts individuals from BIPOC communities with the ability to heal from trauma, improve interpersonal relationships, and further help to address racial injustice or inequities in natural spaces. Light of Loving Kindness specializes in creating Outdoor Rx programs, including Self Love in Nature, Camping While Black, and Self Love Bootcamp. Our programs engage individuals from Black and Brown communities in a meaningful relationship with nature through our unique blend of holistic wellness practices and education.

It's a problem you can't unsee. The invasive species common, or European, buckthorn is the most abundant tree in Lake County, Illinois and the Chicago region. As an issue that spans public and private lands, community engagement is vital for conservation agencies to make long-lasting progress on buckthorn removal.

Since 2015, the Lake County Forest Preserves has crafted methods and messages to inspire private landowners to remove and replace buckthorn with native plants. Environmental Communications Specialist Brett Peto and Matt Ueltzen, manager of restoration ecology, share best practices and tried-and-true resources to help the public. 35-minute presentation with 10–15 minutes for Q&A.