Wild Things: a history

So far as we’ve heard, there’s nothing else like it on the planet – with thousands of volunteer stewards, citizen scientists, activists, conservation professionals, and "the ecologically curious" getting together – a grass roots conference – of, by, and for the grass roots.

These days it’s called “WILD THINGS – a conference for people and nature.” But it goes back to the mid seventies and, under various names, has been run with volunteer leadership every two years ever since.

It started in 1975 thanks to two students of Aldo Leopold, Doug and Dot Wade. Doug was director of Northern Illinois University’s “Taft Field Campus” near Oregon, Illinois. He was inspired by the North American Prairie Conference (first held in north central Illinois the year before) but thought it too academic and removed from the public. So in 1975, he and a few others launched something called “The Northern Illinois Prairie Workshop.” That modest name suggested that Wade and friends did not want just lofty professors reading papers. They did want professors, yes, but also people with dirt under their fingernails, thinking together. They sought give and take among whoever had the most to offer. 

It was a time when people like Robert Betz and Ray Schulenberg were inspiring people with “prairie fever.” Activists were motivating colleges, public schools, forest preserves, and individuals to find, save, and plant prairies. (No one had discovered yet that the region's woodlands also needed the same kinds of help.)

Wade convinced his University to sponsor that first workshop – but when well under way, the plans hit a snag. Wade had been nervous about whether enough people would come. But when the registrations reached 150, the administrators told him to close registration. That was as many lunches as the facility could handle. Wade broadcast the news: “Registration is still open. But from now on, bring your own lunch,” and a phenomenon began.

The third workshop was held at Fermilab in 1978. This was the first one in the Chicago region and the first to combine the Wade volunteers with the Betz (NEIU) and Schulenberg (Morton Arb) crowd. Part of the magic was the fancy Fermilab amphitheatre and facilities. The spirit of the day was as ancient as nature and as new as smashing electrons. Floyd Swink gave the keynote – academically sound, hilarious, filled with local tidbits, and given urgency by how fast the prairie was being lost.

One key to the spirit of the workshops was the coming together of communities. Dot Wade had established Illinois’ first prairie nursery and bookstore. She and many dedicated volunteers sold the books, erected displays, and made new people feel welcome. presenters and participants included academic researchers, professional conservationists, backyard nature gardeners, landscapers, photographers, birders, and a long list. Another motive force carried on from the first meetings was the participatory “workshop” mentality.

The workshop inspired and changed lives every two years thereafter. Doug campaigned in planning committee meetings (as did others) that we needed discussion, creativity, interchange in the sessions. The workshops changed with the times. One year it celebrated the newly completed Illinois Natural Areas Inventory and the campaign to save those last 610 natural areas -  now including not just prairies but also wetlands and forests. That workshop was called “The Precious Few.”

(I wonder if anyone has a complete collection of “Proceedings” and programs. It would lend itself to some interesting analysis.)

Because some people figured out that our tallgrass savannas and open oak woodlands had been misunderstood and largely missed by the Inventory, one conference became the Midwest Oak Savanna Conference. 

In the 1980s, the Nature Conservancy hired some of the volunteer leaders. As they had come out of the Betz-and-Wade-inspired movement, the biennial workshops/conferences continued in much the same format with administrative support now from Conservancy staff. As always, after one big “keynote” – we would divide into many (these days a dozen) simultaneous “breakout sessions” that allowed discussion and interaction with many original and new leaders.

Another challenge came when the Conservancy’s grass roots staff mostly moved to Audubon. They scrambled to hold together the volunteer stewards groups, educational programs, intern support, and many other components of the broader community, including the big grass roots conferences. With support from Audubon staff, the workshop/conference was renewed and renamed “Wild Things – a Chicago Wilderness conference for people and nature.”

After fifteen years, Audubon, like Nature Conservancy, went in a different direction. 2015 was the first time in thirty years that the conference didn’t have staff support from Audubon or the Conservancy. Many of the people who’d organized everything in recent years rose to the occasion. Friends of the Forest Preserves agreed to be fiscal agent for the conference.

In 2015, 1,300 people attended. In 2017 we moved to a larger venue and, for the first time, registration was closed when 1700 tickets had been sold – a limit imposed by the fire marshal for that venue. 

Over the years these workshops or conferences have built our community's education level and spirit. There have also been many great moments - perhaps less important but easier to tell about. One year Dr. Betz gave the keynote speech in the Northeastern Illinois University gymnasium - the only structure on campus big enough to hold us. It was incongruous to have quite a serious and intellectual presentation with people sitting on bleachers, cheering.

One year the keynoter was U. of Wisconsin botany professor Hugh Iltis. He was a spectacular performer, seeming to various people: brilliant, obnoxious, perceptive, and full of himself. Beyond botany, he focused on overpopulation, with photos of impoverished Latin American families, and harsh criticism of the Catholic Church. About half the audience walked out in protest or exhaustion during his very long speech (which came at the end of the day) and half found it wonderful.

The 2017 keynoter was Hispanic community activist Kim Wasserman of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization. She was interviewed by Jerome McDonnell of WBEZ radio's "Worldview." Nobody walked out. The environmental victory she described inspired all.

The 2019 conference keynoter was ecological entrepreneur and author Gary Nabhan. More than 2,500 people attended.

A surprise of the 2023 Wild Things was in a "keynote panel" consisting of three professionals and one volunteer. The volunteer, Tori Cunningham, was the hit, with her purple hair and fresh perspective. She compellingly made the point that lives benefit from "a third space" - that is, in addition to work and home, volunteer conservation can enrich a life in part because of the freedom from the limitations of the other places.  

The next Wild Things will be in March 2025. Lots of new participation and new ideas are needed for it to be all in can be. Public engagement is critical to the future of biodiversity and the planet. If you would like to offer suggestions or help plan the next conference, please do. You can leave questions and comments at the Wild Things community. Volunteer and pitch in? Or just come, discover, and enjoy in 2025.