What's in a Name?
"Rest! cries the chief sawyer, and we pause for a breath."
We took the name “Good Oak” from a chapter in Aldo Leopold's landmark work A Sand County Almanac. In this chapter Leopold narrates the sawing of a dead oak tree for the firewood it will provide to heat his now famous 'shack'. As they saw through each annual growth ring in the massive trunk, he chronicles various events during the year each ring represents. He mentions historic events, conservation efforts, and a myriad of wild places and wildlife species which were lost to Wisconsin within the lifetime of that tree, including marten, cougar, passenger pigeon, wild turkey, and elk.
At Good Oak Ecological Services our mission is to improve the environment for the benefit of people and the natural community. Through our work we hope to prevent future extinctions of our wild plants and animals and perhaps help re-establish some that have been lost. We have been strongly influenced by Aldo Leopold and his “Land Ethic”. We felt that referencing this important conservation literature was appropriate. We strive to live up to his ideals and work for positive change.
About Us:
Frank Hassler Owner/Ecologist
Frank has fifteen years of volunteer and professional experience in the fields of ecology and botany. His passion for restoring natural areas was sparked on a tour of a local prairie in his very first week in college. He was amazed by the beauty and uniqueness of dozens of plants, a whole ecosystem in fact, that he had never seen before. From that moment on Frank has worked towards the preservation, restoration and re-creation of natural areas. As his knowledge of conservation issues grew, he realized that if we are going to maintain the diversity of our wildlife over time that we are going to have go beyond simply conserving our natural areas and also reintegrate native plants and animals into our human landscapes.
Frank can identify over 700 species of wild plants. His botanical knowledge gives him a unique understanding of natural communities as well as knowing which plants will thrive and look good in your landscape. His experience in natural areas management ranges from prescribed burning to weed management to prairie installation. He also has experience with erosion control methods and recreational trail construction. His life-long dedication to the environment and social causes bleeds through into the way he lives his life and manages his business. Frank is also an avid cyclist, so don't be surprised if he shows up to a site visit on his bicycle.
Douglas Chien Independent Ecologist
Doug has been active in the field of ecological restoration and native landscaping since the early 1990's. As a university student he co-founded The Red Bison student prairie restoration group that managed a tallgrass prairie remnant near the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. Since relocating to Chicago in 1998 he has been active with local natural area restoration activities both as a volunteer and as a professional advocate with the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club. He is currently a volunteer co-steward at Powderhorn Prairie, a Cook County Forest Preserve District site that is a dedicated Illinois Nature Preserve on the SE side of Chicago.
Doug is transitioning to all native plants as he re-landscapes his yard in Oak Park Illinois. His plantings are representative of the prairie, savanna, wetland, and oak woodlands of the northeastern Illinois ecoregion. He has designed and installed native landscaping for friends in Chicago and presented talks on native landscaping for beginners. Doug has Bachalor in Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences and a Masters in Geography with an empahsis on ecology and landscape architecture.
Allison Eyring-Green Landscape Designer
Allison holds a bachelors degree in Landscape Architecture and has nearly ten years of experience in landscape design, plant propagation and landscape installation. Though she has had extensive training in traditional landscape design, she has worked almost exclusively with native plants. This combination of formal training and native species savvy allows her to design attractive landscapes with materials few other designers are familiar with. In her spare time Allison volunteers at the UW Arboretum teaching about landscape design and aiding in their natural landscaping efforts.