Mąą Pįį Preserve/1885 Hess House

316-acre preserve

Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation

Friday Session 9:30-10:20 a.m.
Friday Session 10:30-11:20 a.m.
Friday Session 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Thursday Deep Dive Sessions

9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Relationship, Power & Self-Interest: Organizing as a Framework for Engagement and Systems Change

Presented by Sunni Hutton, Sow Joy

Co-creating Natural Pathways for Inclusivity

Presented by Christopher Rudd, ChiByDesign

From Conversation to Shared Stewardship: Building Reciprocal Partnerships with BIPOC-Led Organizations

Presented by Jay Young, American Indian Center

Thursday Field Trips

1:15 to 5 p.m.

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Apple River Canyon State Park

The Apple River carved a deep canyon through bedrock layers of dolomite, limestone, and shale, producing steep cliffs, ravines, springs, and exposed rock formations. The park supports a diverse mosaic of vegetation communities, including upland woodlands and savannas, mesic floodplain forests, hill prairies, dolomite cliffs, steep bluffs, narrow valleys and canyons, talus slopes, shaded ravines, and calcareous openings. The landscape preserves ancient Paleozoic rocks and provides excellent examples of erosion and karst features.
Your trip leaders will explore the unusual combination of geology, topography, and microclimates in the hill prairie in the south unit and the cliffs in the north unit that support plant species such as white pine, Canada yew, and bird’s-eye primrose, as well as numerous ferns, wildflowers, mosses, and lichens. 

Jerry is the former Executive Director of the Natural Land Institute, retiring in 2013, and is one of the founders of Prairie State Conservation Coalition.  He served on the PSCC Board from 2006 to 2012 and as President from 2006 to 2009. While at NLI he completed the three-way protection of the lower segment of the Apple River Canyon natural area with the Boy Scouts of America, IDNR and the private owner. He currently serves as a Commissioner of the Forest Preserves of Winnebago County and as President of the Wild Ones Rock River Valley chapter.  He lives with his life partner on his family farm in Caledonia, Illinois.
Randy is a botanist-ecologist who has had a 45-year career of identifying, protecting, and managing the natural heritage of Illinois. He was a field ecologist on the first Illinois Natural Areas Inventory and the Director of Field Surveys on the recent INAI-Update. His time with the IDNR as a Heritage Biologist and later, administrator, resulted in the dedication of twenty-three nature preserves. He also served as the interim director of the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board and still serves as a member of the Board’s Plant ESTAC.  

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Casper Bluff Nature Preserve and Casper Creek Natural Cemetery

The 170-acre property contains a large section of an Indigenous burial mound system including a Thunderbird Effigy Mound. The group will first tour learn about the Natural Cemetery, now in its 6th year. You will then hear about co-management and partnerships between JDCF and Tribal nations and other tribal partners. An installation of the Mississippi Dialogues project went in at the overlook at Casper Bluff in October 2026. This public artwork shares Indigenous voices of the Mississippi River. 
This experience will be led by JDCF Senior Director of Stewardship Jillian Jablonski, Director of Casper Creek Natural Cemetery Andra Olney-Larson, and former JDCF Executive Director Steve Barg. The artist behind the Mississippi Dialogue project, Citizen Potawatomi Tribal member Margaret Pearce, will also be on site. 
This field trip is a .75-mile hike, starting in the lower parking lot with a tour of Casper Creek Natural Cemetery. From there, the group will get on the trail and walk through the prairie, into the oak savanna to visit the thunder bird effigy, there is then an uphill portion that will bring the tour to the vista overlooking the Mississippi River.

Jillian Jablonski is JDCF’s Senior Director of Land Stewardship. Jillian is from Illinois, but she has spent the last 13 years living and working as a biologist in southcentral Alaska. Jillian has a B.S. in Environmental Science from Oregon State University and an M.S. in Wildlife Conservation Ecology from the University of Alaska Anchorage. She has worked in a variety of fish and wildlife biology positions, most recently serving as Habitat Programs Director for a tribal conservation district and as a Fish Biologist for the US Forest Service. 
Andra Olney-Larson is dedicated to bringing sustainable end-of-life opportunities to the area and ensuring the future of compassion in conservation. She brings nine years of experience in communication and marketing, a BBA in Marketing from Western New Mexico University, and a committed curiosity about the environment surrounding the mighty Mississippi. In 2018, Andra and her partner moved from the banks of the Gila River in New Mexico to the banks of the Mississippi River in Dubuque, Iowa, having first fallen for the Driftless area after visiting in 2014. She has previously been employed by the South West Environmental Center, the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, the Silver City Daily Press, and RiverWorks Discovery’s national river education outreach program based in Dubuque, Iowa. As a certified death doula, winner of the 2024 Dubuque Women’s Leadership Network award for Achievements in Her Field, and current student of Thanabotany through the School of American Thanatology, her work with natural burial is a continuation of her journey in conservation.
Steve Barg began his career in conservation in 1986 at the Heller Nature Center, serving first as a teaching naturalist, later as the center’s director. From 1998 to 2003, Steve served as the Director of Education for Lake County Open Lands Association, where he grew their environmental education program and helped open the Lockhart Family Nature Center. It was there that Steve became interested in the public benefits of private land conservation, which led him to pursue work in nonprofit land conservation and restoration. From 2003 to 2013 I served as the executive director for the Liberty Prairie Conservancy in Lake County Illinois. From 2013 to 2026  Steve served as the executive director for Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation in Elizabeth, Illinois.

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Hanover Bluff Complex

This corridor of land between route 84 and the Mississippi River is comprised of land protected by six different entities: Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation, Illinois DNR, The Nature Conservancy, Natural Land Institute, The Prairie Enthusiasts, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife. 
The field trip will start at the most southern stop and participants will be able to experience the sand prairie ecosystem and its native prickly pear cactus along the Mississippi River outside of the Lost Mound Wildlife Refuge. Here, the full scope of the projects in the area will be discussed at the landscape level.
Back on the bus, the tour continues through the complex past the base of Hanover Bluff Nature Preserve, an area that is unique with regard to the influence of the ancient karst geology of the Driftless Area and the modern glacial till geology of the upper Mississippi sands. A second stop will be made at Wapello Land and Water Reserve along the Apple River which has been restored into prairie from row-crops. It was a significant town and trading site for the ancestors of the Native mound builders, the Ho-Chunk, Ioway, Otoe-Missouria, and others.  

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Galena Territory Management Site

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Friday Concurrent Sessions

9:30 to 10:20 a.m. (return to top)

9:30-10:20 a.m. Room 1 – Agriculture

Advancing Conservation and Community through Creative Farmland Succession Partnerships

Nathan Aaberg, President/CEO Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation (naaberg@jdcf.org)

Brainstorm with two land trusts, a community foundation, and a farmland owner about ways to give farmland owners a way to address their succession goals while also strengthening rural communities and advancing conservation on the largest single land use in Illinois – agriculture.dation, and a farmland owner about ways to give farmland owners a way to address their succession goals while also strengthening rural communities and advancing conservation on the largest single land use in Illinois – agriculture.

9:30-10:20 a.m. Room 2 – Relationships

Making Room For Relationships: A Decisionmaker Engagement Toolbox

Claire Shipp, American Farmland Trust and Shreya Mahajan, Illinois Environmental Council (cshipp@farmland.org)

Building relationships with elected officials is an important part of conservation work, but finding the time and capacity to do so consistently can be a challenge. This interactive session will explore practical ways land trusts and conservation organizations can make decisionmaker engagement part of the work they are already doing. Drawing on input from Illinois conservation organizations, we’ll share a Decisionmaker Engagement Toolbox with outreach ideas, templates, peer examples, and lessons learned. Participants will have time to identify opportunities within their own work plans and leave with a simple roadmap for building relationships today, over the next 30 days, and throughout the year.

9:30-10:20 a.m. Room 3 – Storytelling

Building a Conservation Brand People Want to Support: Storytelling, Trust, and Community

Goldie Chan, Warm Robots (me@goldiechan.com)

Conservation organizations rely on public trust, community support, and strong relationships to advance their missions. This session explores how clear storytelling and authentic communication can help organizations strengthen visibility, engage supporters, and build lasting community connections. Goldie Chan will share practical approaches for identifying compelling stories, communicating organizational impact, and creating a consistent voice across digital and in-person channels. Participants will leave with actionable ideas for making their organization’s work more understandable, memorable, and meaningful to the people they hope to reach.

Friday Concurrent Sessions

10:30 to 11:20 a.m. (return to top)

10:30-11:20 a.m. Room 1 – Relationships

Who Gets to Be a Conservatinoist? Reimagining Access, Leadership & Ownership

Johari Cole and Brandon Harris, Community Development Corporation of PHP (cdc.php@gmail.com)

The future of conservation depends on expanding who belongs. We cannot solve complex ecological challenges without diverse knowledge, leadership, and lived experience. The goal is not simply to bring more people into conservation, but to transform the movement itself—recognizing community knowledge, creating economic opportunity, developing intergenerational leadership, embracing innovation, and sharing ownership. The movement must broaden, become more representative, and respond more directly to the communities and landscapes it seeks to protect. This interactive sessionis meant to provoke the senses and sensibilities and move conservation into the future.

10:30-11:20 a.m. Room 2 – Land Impact

Let’s Talk Data Centers: Our Power, Our Water, Our Wildlife, and Our Communities

Jizelle Torres, Prairie Rivers Network (jtorres@prairierivers.org)

Data centers are making headlines across the country and surging into Illinois, with stories of massive electricity use, water demands, and impacts on people and communities. What’s discussed less in the media are the impacts that data centers can have on wildlife and the habitats upon which they depend. This interactive event will include overviews of the landscape of data center development, the known and unknown energy, water, community and wildlife impacts from datacenters, and potential solutions to these problems. The brief presentations will be broken up by small breakout conversations where people can share their thoughts.

10:30-11:20 a.m. Room 3 – Soil Health

Farmer-Led Advances in Soil Health: Roadmap to Success

Morgan Cauble, American Farmland Trust (mcauble@farmland.org)

Conservation organizations rely on public trust, community support, and strong relationships to advance their missions. This session explores how clear storytelling and authentic communication can help organizations strengthen visibility, engage supporters, and build lasting community connections. Goldie Chan will share practical approaches for identifying compelling stories, communicating organizational impact, and creating a consistent voice across digital and in-person channels. Participants will leave with actionable ideas for making their organization’s work more understandable, memorable, and meaningful to the people they hope to reach.

Friday Concurrent Sessions

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (return to top)

11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Room 1 – Agriculture Easements

Talk Back: Agricultural Conservation Easements 101 and How We Increase Protected Farmland in Illinois

Charlotte Larson, American Farmland Trust (clarson@farmland.org)

Land trusts play a crucial role in building relationships with landowners, navigating lengthy enrollment processes, and ultimately protecting the working lands Illinoisians rely on and cherish. But how do we ensure a smooth application period and successful projects? This participatory session will demystify the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program – Agricultural Land Easements (ACEP-ALE).

Participants will be asked to share their challenges, successes, and ideas. The facilitator will use this feedback to assist land trusts and other practitioners in implementing the program. Together, we will work towards leveraging ACEP as a tool for conservation, farm viability, and sustainable community development.

11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Room 2 – Stewardship

Illinois Prescribed Burn Associations (PBAs)

Caleb Worley, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever (cworley@pheasantsforever.org)

Prescribed fire is the most cost-effective management tool available to preserve native prairies, woodlands, and other habitats in Illinois.

Private landowners have limited resources available to implement prescribed fire on their land. Prescribed Burn Associations (PBAs) are groups of landowners and engaged individuals who collaborate to implement prescribed burns on private lands, by providing equipment, knowledge, experience, and peoplepower.

The PBA, neighbor helping neighbor helping neighbor approach, connects landowners, resource professionals, volunteers, and other like-minded conservationists to implement safe and effective prescribed burning across the Illinois landscape.

11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Room 3 – Volunteers

Next Generation Stewards: Where Will They Come From?

Amy Doll, Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves (amy@friendsilnature.org)

For at least four decades volunteer stewards have spent countless hours doing amazing work of ecological restoration. However, even as the ecological challenges increase, many agencies face the challenge of aging stewards without engagement from younger people. Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves has seen success in recent years in engaging the “next generation of stewards” as many new stewardship leaders in the 20s and 30s have emerged in many places.

Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves has the broad perspective of the history of how Illinois has led the nation in protection of nature, in large part due to the groundbreaking and world leading efforts of community-based volunteer stewardship. Building on this model, Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves has seen success in thinking about how to engage the next generation of stewards in this nature-saving effort.