Wild Things 2025

The topic of native plants in early childhood and youth education is vital and often overlooked. Discover practical strategies for integrating local flora and fauna into the classroom and at home, fostering a deeper connection to nature. We'll share hands-on, age-appropriate activities designed to spark curiosity and teach children of all ages about biodiversity and ecosystem health. Leave equipped with simple, creative ideas to make nature education interactive and impactful. Together, with hands dirty and hearts full, we can inspire the next generation of environmental stewards.

This session will provide an overview of the development and implementation of Illinois’ State Wildlife Action Plan over the past 20 years and current efforts to review and update the SWAP.  The Illinois Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan & Strategy version 1.0 and the 2015 Implementation Guide to the Illinois Wildlife Action Plan make up the currently approved State Wildlife Action Plan for the State of Illinois.  The SWAP is organized around Campaigns and Conservation Opportunity Areas that allow opportunities for public and private partners to engage in conservation actions designed to maintain and enhance native species and natural communities throughout Illinois.  

Community gardens provide resources for pollinators and people, but little research has explored how to enhance their mutual benefits. Our goals are to identify garden characteristics associated with higher pollinator diversity and mutually beneficial relationships among gardeners and pollinators. We observed >23 genera of bees, wasps, and butterflies at 21 gardens. Among survey respondents (n=171), the minority (24%) correctly identified native pollinators but most (64%) took action to promote pollinators such as choosing specific plants. Further, more frequent butterfly sightings were associated with improved psychological well-being (e.g. relaxation) in the garden. We will discuss the implications of our results for garden management and One Health in cities.

Getting visitors excited about natural history via public displays is a huge part of the museum mission. But did you know that museum scientists and collaborators conduct research locally and globally on a wide-variety of organisms? Dr. Sara Ruane, the Curator of Herpetology at the Field Museum and collaborators will speak about their research program, which has a strong focus on snakes. Topics may include projects centered in Chicagoland, including conducting re-surveys for reptiles and amphibians; in Madagascar, with a focus on the island’s endemic snake species, such as the Malagasy boas; and on what can be discovered right in the museum’s extensive collection of reptiles and amphibians from around the globe.

Avoesis—a form of quietness that is not precisely silence—is characterized by an absence of noise or βοή (boe) in Greek, a word that might also translate as clamor or din. In the auditory lull from noise, the benevolent presence of other species can be discovered. Even in the exceptionally noisy environments of cities, such moments of tranquility are possible.

In this presentation, I summarize my work over the past several years on the possibility of discovering pleasing soundscapes even when rebarbative noise dominates. What might ‘avoetic spaces’—places where nature can hold sway and people can hear themselves think—be like in cities? What are the benefits of designating these spaces for both human well-being and the flourishing of non-human communities?

This panel discussion will provide the opportunity for the panelists to describe how to effectively collaborate across disciplines and responsibilities to effectively attend to the health of the community and the health of prairies that are located in the city of Markham, Il., known as the Prairie Capital of the Prairie State
Managing the five plus prairies that comprise 13% of the land mass requires a perspective that is specific, engaging, intentional, flexible, and adaptable with boundaries. Dynamics to be consider and how they have been addressed will be shared in a manner that the attendees will experience the practicality of "thinking outside of the box" with the goal of positively impacting people and nature. People in the community and colleagues are challenged and answer the question "Why?" when determining ways of operation at this unique preserve where people and prairie are neighbors. Attendees will come away with an understanding that at this preserve, prairies in a city, prairie management happens. a youth intern program happens. Stewardship happens. Collaboratively! It's not just theory. It's our practice.

Rope Dodder (Cuscuta glomerata) is a unique native vine that is completely parasitic and usually targets members of the Aster/Composite Family as a host species, especially aggressive, rhizomatous species such as Tall and Canada Goldenrods and Sawtooth Sunflower. We will look at the life cycle and growth and development of Rope Dodder and examine takeaways from the anecdotal approaches of using this native parasitic species as a biological control for aggressive goldenrods and Sawtooth Sunflower at several sites in the Barrington area over a five-year period.