21st Annual Conference

A pre-conference field trip to The Nature Conservancy's Nachusa Grasslands. Attendees visited the renowned restoration site and learned about land management efficiency and innovations developed through years of on-the-ground experience, then saw the real-world effects of fire as a management tool, including efforts to combat invasives like bush honeysuckle in savanna and woodlands. The group also toured seed collection and processing operations with drying racks, a hammer mill, seed dryer, and more.

Where: Nachusa Grasslands Visitor Center, 2075 Lowden Rd, Franklin Grove, IL 61031 (GPS: 41.8844706, -89.3415287)

Highlights of management strategies, restoration projects, and regional conservation work taking place across Byron Forest Preserve properties, including insights into forest management and habitat preservation.

Russell Brunner is the Superintendent of Restoration and Maintenance at the Byron Forest Preserve District, where he champions habitat protection and restoration. He played a key role in the 2017/2018 acquisition of the 160-acre Bald Hill Prairie Preserve, working to save its rare, original Illinois prairie and restore its oak savannas. While working on this preserve, he and the District's Executive Director discovered a 200-year-old Eastern Cottonwood that was later named the largest tree in Illinois. He is a passionate educator and presenter on forest management and ecological restoration within the region.

This presentation provided an update on the current state of Illinois forestry, with a focus on timber buyer trends and industry metrics. Attendees gained high-level insights into modern management tools, regional agency partnerships, and workforce considerations. The session also touched on broad stewardship efforts, land management activities, and ongoing development priorities across state forests.

This presentation covered the significance of oak ecosystems in the region, how and why they have changed over time, and management actions to protect and restore these native ecosystems.

Ysabella Freeman is a Forester with the American Bird Conservancy working to conserve oak ecosystems in the Chicagoland Region through the Oak Ecosystem RCPP (Regional Conservation Partnership Program). She graduated from Southern Illinois University–Carbondale with a degree in Forestry-Wildlife Management and a minor in Environmental Science and has worked a variety of jobs in the natural resources field, including a Wildlife Technician capturing white-tailed deer fawns, Timber Sale Prep Technician with Americorps in California, Consulting Forester in the southern Illinois and St. Louis region, Recreation Technician for the US Forest Service at the Umpqua National Forest in Oregon, and as an Urban Forester/Inventory Arborist for Davey Resource Group in NE Illinois and SE Wisconsin. She is passionate about wildlife conservation and land management and currently lives in Chicago, Illinois.

An overview of land management in the nation's oldest and largest forest preserve district, with emphasis on its highest priority landscape: the Palos Preserves of southwestern Cook County. The program featured special flora and fauna and the unique challenges of prescribed burning in an urban area.

Kristin Pink works as a regional ecologist with the Forest Preserves of Cook County in the area where she grew up. She learned tree ID from John Edgington at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her professional goal is to restore all 15,000 acres of the Palos Preserves so others may know their magic.

This session offered a look back at a year of program development and outreach, covering website updates, the Lovett and Gerrish Woodland StoryMaps, Women Owning Woodlands Illinois, and Planned Giving initiatives. Much of this work was carried out through an internship spanning these projects, and the session shared firsthand insights, lessons learned, and outcomes from that experience.

Kinzee Macho is the Illinois Forestry Association's Program Coordinator. Her educational background is in environmental policy and analysis. She organizes all IFA-hosted events, quarterly newsletter releases, and general outreach activities. Kinzee's interests and hobbies include food systems change, regenerative agriculture, swimming, cooking, and Star Wars.

Adella Catanzaro recently completed a Forestry and Land Stewardship Internship with the Illinois Forestry Association. She grew up on a 15-acre homestead in rural western Massachusetts, where her love of woodlands first took root. She is completing degrees in Biology and Anthropology at Grinnell College and has worked with Iowa State University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst on projects related to private woodland owner engagement, climate-adaptive forest management, and invasive forest insect management. She hopes to build a career helping landowners steward healthy, resilient forests.

Many forest-dependent birds in Illinois are experiencing population declines due to habitat loss, changes in forest structure, and reduced availability of key breeding and stopover habitats. This program explored how forest management can enhance habitat conditions and support declining bird species, including whip-poor-wills and migratory songbirds. Illinois forests play a critical role as breeding habitats and essential stopover areas for millions of migrating birds. Drawing on recent research, the program highlighted the importance of active forest management and demonstrated how conservation practices can benefit a diversity of bird species.

Dr. Mike Ward is originally from Jacksonville, IL and received his PhD from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2004. He is currently the Stuart L. and Nancy J. Levenick Chair in Sustainability in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois and an Ornithologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey. Dr. Ward conducts research on avian ecology and conservation throughout the Midwest as well as in Texas, Florida, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Cuba. He is a global leader in the use of automated telemetry to investigate the movements and behavior of birds. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and won multiple awards for his research, and serves on many technical committees charged with informing management and policy to better conserve the environment.

A look at available funding programs from A–Z for getting forest management done on your property. Forestry programs can be very helpful as financial assistance, but also hard to navigate. This discussion laid out the current program options.

Jenny Lesko has been working for IDNR as a District Forester since 2017, over the Dixon Springs district in southeastern Illinois. She lives in Tunnel Hill with her husband, 1-year-old baby boy, two cats, and a snake. She graduated with a Master's degree in Forest Ecology at Purdue University. She enjoys botanizing and backpacking, two activities that pair well in the Shawnee NF.

Drone-based herbicide applications for invasive plants have been increasing due to their low cost, the increasing availability of contract applicators, and decreasing equipment costs. However, recommendations for effective drone-based treatments of invasive plants are sparse. This talk focused on a project to evaluate the efficacy of drone-based herbicide applications on priority invasive plants, including common reed (Phragmites australis), autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), and bush honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii). The presentation provided an overview of the findings, recommendations for successful drone treatments, and next steps to improve this emerging technology in natural resource management.

Kevin conducts research and provides education to the people of Illinois on forest ecology, invasive species, use of technology in forestry, prescribed fire, wildlife, chainsaw safety, natural areas management, and outreach for University of Illinois Extension. He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Geography from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, specializing in biogeography and GIS, and an M.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign focused on forest management and ecology. He has worked in natural resource conservation since 2004, including the River to River Cooperative Weed Management Area, Natural Land Institute, The Nature Conservancy, Great Basin Institute, Illinois EPA, Great Rivers Land Trust, and the National Park Service.

An IFA-only tour at the Nachusa Grasslands Fall Festival. The group learned about the site and the reintroduced bison, and discussed how bison have changed the prairie and management practices. The tour also covered other wildlife such as state-threatened ornate box turtles and Blanding's turtles, and how the site manages for them. Because this was a designated tour at their festival, participants were welcome to join the other festival activities afterward.

Where: Nachusa Grasslands Visitor Center, 2075 Lowden Rd, Franklin Grove, IL 61031 (GPS: 41.8844706, -89.3415287)