What's in a Name?

"Rest! cries the chief sawyer, and we pause for a breath."
- Aldo Leopold

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 perhapshelp 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:

Good Oak Ecological Services is committed to supporting our community and providing a living wage for owner, employees and partners. Native landscaping and ecological restoration are inherently local activities. We use locally quarried stone for stonework and plant only native plants grown by local nurseries. These practices not only support our local economy, they also supports the greater natural community of our region and provide a "sence of place" so that we can experience and appreciate the beauty of our midwestern landscape. In Wisconsin, we are a member of Dane Buy Local.

If you're looking for references to see what our clients are saying about us you can check out our listings on Angie's List and Linked-In.

Frank Hassler   Owner/Ecologist

Frank has over fifteen years of volunteer and professional experience in the fields of ecology and botany. He has earned a B.S. in Ecology from the University of Illinois and an M.S. in Forestry at Northern Arizona University. 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 1,000 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.

Andrew Norman  Ecological Restoration Specialist

Andrew earned a B.S. in Geography- Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire. After graduating, Andrew worked for agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources doing work ranging from conducting wildlife surveys to maintaining state natural areas. He also worked for private landowners as an ecological restoration technician restoring prairies and oak woodland communities in southwestern Wisconsin. Andrew has applied his restoration knowledge volunteer for organzations such as the Student Conservation Association, Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, Mississippi Valley Conservancy and West Wisconsin Land Trust. Andrew enjoys spending his free time outdoors kayaking, camping and cross country skiing.

Joy Follendorf  Native Landscaping Specialist

Joy first became interested in plants while working at a retail greenhouse in high school; this led her to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Horticulture from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. She has continued to work in the horticulture field in Madison for over 10 years now, primarily designing, installing and maintaining residential landscapes. She has great enthusiasm for using native plants and sustainable, environmentally sound landscaping practices. In her free time, she enjoys re-landscaping her own yard, spending time outdoors, hiking, skiing, running, and cooking.

Allison Eyring-Green   Landscape Designer

Allison earned a B.A. in Landscape Architecture from the University of Illinois 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.

Douglas Chien   Advising 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. He has designed and installed native landscaping in Chicagoland 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.