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The Midwest-Great Lakes Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration cordially invites you to attend our 16th Annual Meeting on April 25–27, 2025, at the beautiful Stoney Creek Hotel & Event Center in Moline, Illinois. Our meeting theme is…

Engaging Agricultural and Rural Communities in Ecological Restoration

REGISTRATION IS LIVE: Register now for SER-MWGL 2025!

SER Members and Guests register through the SER Events platform: SER-MWGL 2025 Annual Meeting Registration

Registration Type	Friday 4/25 (Single Day)	Saturday 4/26 (Single Day)	Sunday 4/27	Total (Full Meeting)
Early Registration – Student (Chapter Member)	$40	$60	Free to those who register for in-person sessions scheduled for Friday and/or Saturday	$100
Early Registration – Student	$55	$75	“	$130
Early Registration – Regular (Chapter Member)	$80	$120	“	$200
Early Registration – Regular	$120	$180	“	$300

2025 Annual Meeting Program and Schedule

Please join us for the 16th Annual Meeting of the SER Midwest-Great Lakes Chapter. Our meeting agenda includes:

A keynote presentation by Dr. Laura Jackson of the University of Northern Iowa Tallgrass Prairie Center: A Lost Cause? Bringing Prairie Back to the Cornbelt.
- Laura Jackson is Director of the Tallgrass Prairie Center and Professor of Biology at the University of Northern Iowa. She received her BA in Biology from Grinnell College, and a Ph.D. in Ecology (minor in Agronomy) from Cornell University. She has taught courses in ecology, conservation biology, restoration ecology and environmental studies. Her research focuses on the restoration of biological diversity in agriculture landscapes, and the dynamics of seedling establishment in prairie reconstructions. She and her mother Dana Jackson are co-editors of The Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems with Ecosystems (Island Press, 2002).
A roundtable discussion on restoration and conservation in the Quad Cities region: Our partners from the Quad Cities region have assembled a group of local restoration and conservation professionals to share their ongoing successes, challenges, and perspectives of restoration and conservation in the Quad Cities area of Illinois and Iowa and to answer your questions.
Three workshops:
- Workshop 1 – Basics of Native Seed Mix Designs.
- Workshop 2 – Quality Control Oversight During Construction Monitoring in Ecological Restoration.
- Workshop 3 – Painting with Soil.
Four symposia:
- Symposium 1 – Native Plant Community Planning Establishment and Monitoring in Agricultural Wetland Bank Restoration Projects.
- Symposium 2 – Growing Resilient: Nature-Based Solutions for Urban, Rural, and Agricultural Communities in a Changing World.
- Symposium 3 – Agroecology: Working Lands.
- Symposium 4 – Building a Relationship with Farmers and the Agricultural Community Near Your Restoration or Conservation Project.
Contributed oral presentation sessions: We currently have 26 presenters from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Washington who will share their experiences involving prairie, forest, wetland, stream, and urban restoration. Presentation topics include campus restoration efforts, factors affecting hardwood tree planting success on reclaimed coal mines, effects of native and commercial mycorrhizae sources on nursery grown tree seedlings, assessing nutrient removal ability of constructed wetlands, and more!
Dedicated contributed poster session: We currently have 10 presenters from Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Virginia who will share their experiences involving prairie, forest, oak-savanna, floodplain wetland, sand urban restoration. Presentation topics include training restoration volunteers, effects of seed mix design and planting time on floral resources, effects of deer repellants on floodplain restoration efforts and more!
Choice of one of eight field trips: 1) Copperas Creek Restoration & BMP Installation Field Trip; 2) Collinson Ecological Preserve Field Trip; 3) Hahnaman Sand Prairie & Keefe Prairie Field Trip; 4) Nahant Marsh – 25 Years of Restoring an Urban Wetland Oasis Field Trip; 5) Niabi Zoo Habitat Restoration Field Trip; 6) Fire on the Bluff: Exploring a Fire-maintained Oak Woodland at Black Hawk State Historic Site Field Trip; 7) Land of the Swamp White Oak – Fire, Cattle, and Floods Field Trip; 8) Ringneck Marsh Wildlife Area Wetland Restoration Field Trip
Social events: Several social events are scheduled that include sponsorship reception on Friday, lunch on Saturday, and a no-host social on Saturday evening.

The tentative 2025 Meeting Schedule is:

Friday April 25
11:00 am – 1:00 pm	Registration
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm	Concurrent Workshops
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm	Roundtable Discussion on Restoration and Conservation in Quad Cities Region
4:30 pm – 4:45 pm	Break
4:45 pm – 5:45 pm	Business Meeting and Recognition Awards
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm	Poster Session and Sponsorship Reception

Saturday April 26
7:00 am – 10:00 am	Registration
8:00 am – 10:00 am	Concurrent Oral Presentations (Session 1)
10:00 am – 10:20 am	Break
10:20 am – 11:20 am	Keynote Presentation
11:30 am – 1:00 am	Lunch and Student Awards
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm	Concurrent Symposia
3:00 pm – 3:20 pm	Break
3:20 pm – 5:20 pm	Concurrent Oral Presentations (Session 2)
6:00 pm – whenever	No-host Social

Sunday April 27
8:00 am – 2:00 PM	Offsite field trips at different locations with different starting and ending times

Check back frequently as we share more program updates.
**You can download a PDF copy of the meeting program and schedule below.

2025_AM_Flyer 3Pg Download

Lodging

Lodging is available through the Stoney Creek Hotel and Conference Center (101 18th Street, Moline, IL) where the annual meeting is taking place!

Guest room reservations can be made by calling hotel at 309-743-0101; select option #2 to speak with a front desk agent and mention the Society for Ecological Restoration-Midwest/Great Lakes Chapter to receive the discounted rate. Discounted room rates start at $104 for a Deluxe King or Queen room. You may also use group code 0425Ecological to reserve a room.