Loading…
This event has ended. Visit the official site or create your own event on Sched.
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. 
Venue: Rooms 59, 60 clear filter
Saturday, March 1
 

11:15am CST

Community Leader Model: Community-Informed Engagement Work
Saturday March 1, 2025 11:15am - 12:00pm CST
Rooms 59, 60
Hear from the Friends of the Forest Preserves team about our four-year running community leader engagement model. We will be joined by Friends staff, as well as two community leaders to hear from them about their experience. What’s a community leader? For this session, a community leader is a member from the neighborhoods we are working to bring events and volunteer opportunities to. Community leaders have assisted at events, hosted and recruited participants for focus groups, helped with outreach efforts, helped build new connections to people and organizations, worked with event partners, recruited event attendees throughout the year, and provided valuable insight into local interests.
Presenters
GO
avatar for Joy Bailey

Joy Bailey

Youth and Engagement Corps Manager, Friends of the Forest Preserves
Reconnecting with the earth, interested in the Calumet Region, passionate about environmental justice, herbalism, and inclusive, community-based and place-based interpretive guiding, apprentice community steward Wooded Island, Jackson Park
SA

Sydney Armstead

Engagement Program Manager, Friends of the Forest Preserves
avatar for Max Davis

Max Davis

Data and Evaluation Analyst, Friends of the Forest Preserves
EC
Saturday March 1, 2025 11:15am - 12:00pm CST
Rooms 59, 60
  Community Engagement, Technical

1:15pm CST

Where do we begin; Impactful stories for social media
Saturday March 1, 2025 1:15pm - 2:00pm CST
Rooms 59, 60
This presentation will explore sustainable methods for creating and sharing impactful, science-based stories and other content through social media. The mechanics of social media often pressure us to create content solely to satisfy the algorithm. This process can be exhausting and unfulfilling for everyone involved. We will discuss ways to get closer to our unique perspectives and create a realistic plan of action and feedback to have the best shot at connecting with a genuinely engaged audience over time.
Presenters
avatar for Esther Ikoro
Saturday March 1, 2025 1:15pm - 2:00pm CST
Rooms 59, 60
  Community Engagement, Technical

4:15pm CST

24 years of sand hill prairie restoration results in north central Illinois
Saturday March 1, 2025 4:15pm - 5:00pm CST
Rooms 59, 60
A summary of sand loving prairie restoration methods and techniques used on a sand hill prairie remnant in northwest Bureau County, IL.
Presenters
JA

James Alwill

Owner, Prairie Earth Nursery
Prairie seed and plant salesNorth central IL ecotypeLinear Pollinator patch installed/mngmntRoadside prairie managementSpot herbicide treatment of invasives
Saturday March 1, 2025 4:15pm - 5:00pm CST
Rooms 59, 60
  Stewardship & Ecology, Intro
 
Share Modal

Share this link via

Or copy link

Filter sessions
Apply filters to sessions.
Saturday, March 1
Room 26
Room 27
Room 28
Room 29
Room 40
Room 41
Room 42
Room 43
Room 44
Room 45
Room 46
Room 47
Room 48
Room 49
Room 50
Room 51
Rooms 21-23 & 32-34
Rooms 21-25 & 30-34
Rooms 24, 25
Rooms 30, 31
Rooms 52, 53 - Avian Collective presented by Illinois Audubon Society
Rooms 54, 56, 58
Rooms 55, 57
Rooms 59, 60
  • Arts & Culture
  • Community Engagement
  • Environmental Education
  • Environmental Justice & Advocacy
  • Plants & Pollinators
  • Poster
  • Stewardship & Ecology
  • Wildlife
  • Session
  • Session Block A: 10:15 - 11 AM
  • Session Block B: 11:15 - 12 PM
  • Session Block C: 12:30 - 1 PM
  • Session Block D: 1:15 - 2 PM
  • Session Block E: 2:15 - 3 PM
  • Session Block F: 3:15 - 4 PM
  • Session Block G: 4:15 - 5 PM
  • Popular