If things look a little greener around here this April, there's a good reason. Our editorial staff is busy expanding the ideals of Earth Day into a month-long celebration of energy conservation, alternative transportation, recycling tips and about a million ways you can be a better friend to the planet. Welcome to Green Month, Milwaukee.
Milwaukee's Environmental Services Superintendent Preston Cole wears a lot of hats, but civic and sausage leader Deb Usinger just calls him "Tree Guy."
And while the former city forester does worry a lot about trees, his job is much bigger. About five years ago, the city merged its forestry and sanitation divisions, and Cole now oversees all of 650 employees.
Cole, 46, is the son of sharecroppers, and has spent his whole life close to environmental issues. Now, he merges his knowledge of farming and science with the tricky dance that is city government. The end result is a Milwaukee that is truly beginning to embrace green living.
We caught up with Cole at his Downtown office in this latest Milwaukee Talks.
OMC: Your job encompasses responsibilities on both the forestry and sanitation sides. Tell me about them.
Cole: I am responsible for approximately 650 employees. What we do on the environmental services side is manage the city's natural resources base. The urban forestry programs, the boulevard program, as well as our recycling programs, street sweeping -- which affects water quality -- garbage collection, snow and ice control. It all falls under me, and we have the state's two largest self-help centers where people bring their recyclables and household hazardous wastes.
OMC: How did you get into this field?
PC: As a forester, I went to the University of Missouri. As a "Future Farmer of America," I was thinking I was going to be an agronomist or scientist. It just wasn't cool, though. I remember sitting in a soil science class, and we were talking about a cross between wheat and rye. I looked around the room and I saw the guys with the spit cups. I was raised around these folks and they were all my friends, of course, but I thought I wanted to do something different.
When I was in Michigan, I ran the (school's) ecology club. I went to the School of Natural Resources and graduated with my degree in Forest Science. My parents taught me this love of the land; they were sharecroppers. You never take too much. I'm the youngest of nine, so I was the one hoeing the garden, mowing the grass, trimming the trees.
OMC: Would you say you balance the science side with the administrative, bureaucratic side of government?
PC: There is an extreme amount of bureaucracy. I work for the commissioner of Public Works, who works for the mayor. He gives me a lot of latitude, but we also have a Common Council of 15 duly elected individuals who all have a lot of different ideas about how things should happen. I go before them with our budget, they let us know if they can do better, and what we cannot do any longer. But we get a lot of value from our service to the citizens of Milwaukee.
OMC: Are you a political appointee?
PC: Yes.
OMC: Do you have further political aspirations?
PC: It's not my plan to run for political office, but I'm in a political job. I'm in several political jobs, actually, but my background allows me to add value to the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. I'm newly appointed to the Wisconsin DNR board by the governor. So I get an opportunity to weigh in on a lot of different things.
OMC: You're also on the mayor's Green Team and the National Arbor Day group. It all sounds like a lot of responsibility.
PC: It's probably more than I should be taking on, but I have a good life. I'm glad to serve. I get that from my mom. She's a community activist. I try to not only shape policy direction around the importance of green, but also the importance of green jobs, specifically to the African-American community. I try to raise the conversation of natural resource management.
PC: People are more knowledgeable. They are ahead of the game. They are asking what we are doing for old television collections. How can the city help educate people about how to be more green, specifically around recycling and taking care of their lawns?
OMC: Does Milwaukee have more trees and green space than most cities our size?
PC: I don't know about if we have more trees, but our trees are better cared for than any place else. Not only in the country but probably in the world. It has to do with our elected officials placing a high priority on natural resource management, urban forestry management, boulevards and beautification. They've shown their interest and dedication to funding our programs.
OMC: Give me an example of that plan in action.
PC: Brady Street. When I was first hired, my boss said that we know we'll have made an impact if we can ever get trees on Brady Street, because if you remember, it was a complexity of infrastructure problems. Today, we have street trees.
OMC: Tell me about the Emerald Ash Borer.
PC: It's an invasive insect that can have devastating impact on ash trees in Wisconsin and in any urban forest. The pest has been found 40 miles south of our border in Illinois. It has devastated the ash population in Michigan. Lake Michigan saves us more than anything, but invasive species, in general, create problems for natural resource managers because they are introduced into a system where they're not supposed to be. At some point, we will have to deal with the impact of ash decline. My staff is right now on point, working with the federal and state government trying to educate people what to look for.
OMC: Will we have to cut down trees?
PC: We don't have to worry about cutting down trees yet. If that philosophy worked, it would've worked in Michigan. We're evaluating preventative measures, doing tree injections on our street tree population, which is worth about $30-40 million in value. If you can imagine a Dutch Elm Disease situation, we don't ever want that to happen again.
OMC: Why do you stay in Milwaukee?
PC: I was hired out of St. Louis, where I was Parks Superintendent. I came because of the job opportunity: the best urban forestry program in the world is here in Milwaukee. Who wouldn't want to manage that? I've hired a new forester to take my place, but I moved here for a lot of reasons. It's closer to where I was born and raised, but this is a great part of the world. I've looked at the extremes of the East and West Coasts. I can really sleep soundly here with friends and family and knowing that no matter how many problems we have, I'll put this community up against any community out there.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
