In Wisconsin

In Wisconsin #919

Wisconsin Public Television

Transcript: In Wisconsin #919

Air Date: March 31, 2011

Patty Loew:

Welcome to In Wisconsin. I’m Patty Loew. This week, the states largest study of the white-tail deer herd.

Mam:

A lot of hunters have voiced concern that they are not listened to, that their input is not valued.

Patty Loew:

Well also take you on a high-tech treasure hunt…

Man:

Most people dont know what were doing.

Patty Loew:

As we zero in on the game of geocaching.

Woman:

Were at a rate of finding 6.5 caches a day, since the day we started.

Patty Loew:

And who will emerge the winner as young high school musicians compete in the Final Forte. Those reports, and architecture thats going green, next on In Wisconsin.

Announcer:

Major funding for “In Wisconsin” is provided by the people of Alliant Energy, who bring safe, reliable and environmentally friendly energy to keep homes, neighborhoods and life in Wisconsin running smoothly. Alliant Energy. We’re on for you. And Animal Dentistry and Oral Surgery Specialists of Milwaukee, Oshkosh, and Minneapolis, a veterinary team working with pet owners and family veterinarians, providing care for oral disease and dental problems of small companion animals.

Patty Loew:

We begin this week with a concept called green architecture. Some say it’s more energy efficient, nontoxic and healthier. For more than 35 years, Design Coalition, a nonprofit architectural group has built energy efficient, environmentally friendly buildings. It’s mission is a smaller ecological footprint across Wisconsin and in Madison.

When it’s finished, this house on the Madisons east side will look a lot like its neighbors. But don’t let looks deceive you, like the color for example. It’s not brown, it’s green.

Lou Host-Jablonski:

Actually, green architecture means different things to different people.

Patty Loew:

Owner Lou Host-Jablonski is a different kind of architect, a green architect. Hes part of a social movement called the Design Coalition. He and other coalition architects around the country are committed to a set of principles that focus on restoring and reusing building materials.

Lou Host-Jablonski:

A 100-year-old douglas fir beam, recycled, with heavy timber peg joints, no nails. Up here is engineered wood joists, a lot of structural capacity for not a lot of wood, and plantation grown rather than old growth wood. .

Patty Loew:

No toxic paints or solvents.

Lou Host-Jablonski:

We started to painting here. This is milk paint. Milk paint is just milk casing, clay and pigment.

Patty Loew:

Does it last?

Lou Host-Jablonski:

Lasts great. Its got a beautiful texture, a very old type of paint.

Patty Loew:

What kind of insulation is this?

Lou Host-Jablonski:

This is cotton insulation, actually made from recycled blue jeans.

Patty Loew:

No?!

Lou Host-Jablonski:

Seriously, yeah. When they make blue jeans, there are lots of cut off pieces. Its not post-consumer, not a lot of it is post-consumer, as I understand it. But they fluff it up and make it into a bat. What I love is it’s great to use. I couldn’t do this happily with fiberglass. It would be itchy. It’s a delight to use. Same R value as fiberglass.

Patty Loew:

And other insulation? Well, all the news that’s fit to stuff.

Lou Host-Jablonski:

The insulation in here is cellulose. This is 100% ground up newspapers, a little bit of borax added for fire retardant.

Patty Loew:

The walls are old-school, a mixture of straw and clay, made the way they used to make walls in Europe.

Lou Host-Jablonski:

The walls here that you see, same kind of straw-type walls, but with the earth and plaster on it. This just has two coats. It doesnt have the final coat on it, so you see some straw hanging out.

Patty Loew:

Do you paint over that, or just leave it?

Lou Host-Jablonski:

You leave it. Earthen based lime plasters are millenia old.

Patty Loew:

Host-Jablonski will also use plaster on the floor.

Lou Host-Jablonski:

Kind of reddish, like potters glaze. Thats troweled very smooth. There will be a sealant, several coats of a natural sealant, and then wax. It ends up to be this beautiful leather-like surface. You can mop it. Ive done a few earthen floors, and Ive come to think of them as premium floors. They are labor intensive, but beautiful and soft to walk on. Very nice.

Patty Loew:

And very energy efficient. The overall design of the home is passive solar. South-facing windows generate heat and the floor traps it, acting like a storage battery. Host-Jablonski has also incorporated a passive cooling system that incorporates natural ventilation and shading. He’s paid attention to every detail, from the recycled cast iron baseboard to the electrical outlets, placed to minimize human exposure to electromagnetic frequencies.

Man:

You just bring out a bunch like this and you twist it a little bit and you wad it together. If it keeps its form like that, then you are good.

Patty Loew:

Lou Host-Jablonskis home has become a laboratory where students of green architecture come to study.

Lou Host-Jablonski:

They are people who are interested in natural building, particularly older people looking at building their own homes. There has been a series of workshops. We teach different things. We teach the straw clay, the earth plastering, the earth flooring. I think a lot of people’s conception of green architecture is that you replace dimensional materials for more green materials. It goes beyond that. Its actually an integration of the structural system, the materials, the overall design of the envelope so that it’s passive solar and passive cooling, bringing all these and showing how they work together.

Patty Loew:

That includes not just the architects, but also the contractors. This is another Design Coalition site, a neighborhood in East Troy. Its kind of soupy out today, but actually, this is just the right kind of weather to show you what makes this site so green.

Peter Scherrer:

This site was designed to be what they refer to as a zero runoff site, where we have rain gardens located pretty much around the entire thing. Theres actually16 small to medium rain gardens. They vary in size, from 20′ or 30′ by maybe 5′ or 6′ wide. We dig down about 2-1/2 feet, and in there, we put a mixture of compost, lome, sandy soil, all mixed up. That goes in there, then we plant prairie grasses, shorter on the outside, taller grasses in the middle. Then the water, because of the way we grade, hits all these rain gardens that are dispersed around, and it gets back to this stuff, and gets back to the water table.

Patty Loew:

No erosion, no effect on the water quality. During construction, this black fence keeps silt from reaching the pond. The design of these apartments incorporates passive solar, recycled particle board instead of plywood, and flow forms like this one to oxygenate and improve the quality of any water runoff, and direct it away from the apartments.

Peter Scherrer:

First time, and working with Lou has been a pleasure and experience. Its amazing how many types Lou is so well in tune with little bitty things, that you can do to help green the project.

Lou Host-Jablonski:

Green architecture is more energy efficient, so youre going to save energy. In a green building, the indoor environment is healthier. You are selecting materials that keep the indoor air healthy. You shouldn’t being doing green architecture just for altruistic reasons. As a building owner, you get something out of that. You get real things. You get lower costs. You get a healthier environment, and you get less maintenance.

Patty Loew:

The cost is about the same as conventional architecture, but you often get buildings with character, where everything old is new again.

Since that report first aired, the house in Madison has gone through several phases. This picture of the green-designed home gives you an idea of what it looks like once completed. An interesting footnote, in recent years, the Design Coalition has taken its green techniques and is working with Native American communities, to train local builders in the natural construction methods it developed. If youd like more information go to our website at: wpt.org and click on In Wisconsin.

New methods are being used to study the Wisconsin white-tail deer herds. Theres been a growing concern by hunters that the herd has been decimated by predators. In Wisconsin reporter Frederica Freyberg shows you how the DNR has responded to those concerns with a massive field research project unlike any other in Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

The man with the so called H antenna is Chris Jakes, research scientist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Chris Jakes:

Most of my graduate training was with big game research.

Frederica Freyberg:

Jake’s experience with big game animals will be soon put to use with Wisconsin’s white-tail deer. The animal is a state icon, source of commerce, source of controversy, hunting pride and now the subject of two gigantic research projects brought about in part by the concerns of hunters. The first is called the Big Buck Study. It’s a five-year project that will address this question —

Chris Jakes:

What are the percentage of bucks that die by way hunting.

Frederica Freyberg:

At the same time the DNR will conduct a shorter study on fawns.

Chris Jakes:

How many fawns are being killed by the various predators and at what rate across northern and east central Wisconsin? We have expanding wolf populations. There is evidence to suggest that our black bear population also is greater than we previous thought. Weve got coyotes. Weve got bobcats. Were trying to better understand the impacts that all of these predators are having on fawn survival.

Frederica Freyberg:

Two studies on the white-tail makes for one gigantic effort.

Chris Jakes:

Its the biggest in the history of Wisconsin, the buck study. It’s a $1.5 million research project. We want to capture 60 bucks annually, or two study areas for four years, and radio collar those animals. In addition to those, we want to capture an additional 100 bucks annually per study area and ear tag those individuals. We’ll likely be capturing up to 4,000 to 5,000 animals over the life of this study. So, a big effort.

Frederica Freyberg:

They plan to stick to two study sites, one near Clam Lake, the other in central Wisconsin, Shawano, Waupaca, Outagamie Counties, large areas, and they have many collaborators, including individuals.

Chris Jakes:

We have over 200 hunters now who have signed up as official research volunteers to help us out.

Frederica Freyberg:

Still, they need more.

Chris Jakes:

We especially need help with capturing animals. That’s a long term proposition. Were going to be out there ten weeks, every day, of the field season.

Frederica Freyberg:

If you like tracking animals, this volunteer opportunity could be highly interesting with some unusual visuals.

Chris Jakes:

We’re going to be deploying helicopters with net guns. Well also follow up with ground trapping efforts. Rocket nets, just a big net that is propelled by rocket canisters that well shoot over the top of animals.

Frederica Freyberg:

Capture, track, collar.

Chris Jakes:

This is what well be fitting fit on the fawns. This is kind of an expansion, break-away radio collar.

Frederica Freyberg:

There are many parts of these research projects that experts say play to the skills of hunters of all ages.

Chris Jakes:

This is a way to involve hunters directly in the field research alongside of us. That’s exactly what we want to do.

Patty Loew:

The research did hit a snag when a helicopter brought in to drop nets on the deer had mechanical problems. That portion of the study had to be scrapped.

Next week, In Wisconsin takes you to the woods to see researchers in action as they reach a critical point in their study. Join us for an update next Thursday night at 7:30. For more information on this DNR study, go to our website at: wpt.org and then click on In Wisconsin. There are additional interviews with Chris Jakes about the project, and about what hunters should do if they come across a radio collar.

In recent years, GPS devices have helped hunters track in the woods. That mobile device is also at the center of another recreational trend. In Wisconsin reporter Andy Soth discovered people across the state are using GPS as part of a a high-tech game of find-n-seek, as youre about to see, in Green Bay.

Andy Soth:

It’s a summer day in downtown Green Bay. But its clear, these are no ordinary pedestrians. For one thing, theyre taking an unusual interest in trash cans and dumpsters. They are among 150 participants in a city wide geocaching event.

Woman:

This has all your coordinates, and what you need to do for each cache.

Andy Soth:

It’s a kind of high-tech scavenge hunt, with caches hidden all over Green Bay.

Geocashing is possible due to the popularity of products like this, a handheld GPS device capable of receiving signals from multiple global positioning satellites. The GPS device triangulates signals from the satellites and can give you your exact location on Earth, or it can help you find something hidden by another GPS user, a geocache.

Enter the coordinates of a geocache into a GPS, and it can tell you how close you are to it. Once youve found the cache, you can take a souvenir in exchange for something you leave. Theres a logbook to sign, and geocache activity is also logged on the web. That’s where you can learn the location of caches hidden near you. There are also virtual caches, where the assignment is to take a picture.

The hobby has developed its own culture, with team names, nicknames, and special events like the Green Bay Challenge. For many, its become a fun pasttime.

Woman:

This is a decoding key.

Andy Soth:

For others, its treated more like an addiction.

Tami Janzen-Mauland:

We were just in Ohio last weekend, Missouri the weekend before. It’s what we do.

Andy Soth:

Meet the Janzen-Mauland family, better known among geocaschers as Earth Angel, Duelist, Princess and the Professor. Together, they are the eco-rangers.

Janzen-Mauland:

That’s us.

Andy Soth:

In only a short time, they have logged 4,000 total geocache finds, more than anyone else in Wisconsin. They are ranked 18th in the world.

Tami Janzen-Mauland:

It will be two years on October. We are at a rate of finding 6.5 caches a day since the day we started.

Andy Soth:

I spent the day following the Eco-Rangers and their friends on the Green Bay Challenge. It was clear, they were on a mission.

Diane Sexton:

There’s one up here. Head north and look around.

Andy Soth:

What’s your goal today?

Diane Sexton:

To get them all. Get them all.

Andy Soth:

Diane Sexton is also known as Bushwhacking Queen. Getting them all today will add 58 to her goal of 2,000 in one year.

Diane Sexton:

Do you want to take a look and see where it was? We are out of here!

Andy Soth:

That’s 2,000 times, feeling like this.

Diane Sexton:

Awesome!

Man:

These people wonder what we are doing.

Wade Mauland:

It’s the thrill of the hunt. Youre hunting a tough one, and yu find it, and it’s like, whoo! A lot of times people do a happy dance when they find it.

Dane Mauland:

It’s so good, you can’t explain it.

Andy Soth:

Earth Angel, of the Eco-Rangers, says geocaching provides the satisfaction she used to get from triathlons.

Tami Janzen-Mauland:

I was swimming laps at the Y every day, going for a 15-20 mile bike ride by myself every day, going on a 3-6 mile jog every day. I didn’t like being away from my family. Then when my husband came across geocaching. It was, like wow, this is so cool to do. I can be with my family. We can get our exercise. We can be competitive, go hiking, and see the wonders of Wisconsin.

Andy Soth:

Whether those wonders are Lambeau Field, or this original 1959 McDonald’s sign, geocaching is one high-tech hobby, that at the least gets people off the couch.

Patty Loew:

Wisconsin has its own geocaching association. It’s dedicated to promoting and protecting geocaching, organizing events, working with Wisconsin landowners on policies and educating the public. To find out more, just go to our website at: wpt.org and click on In Wisconsin. Youll find lots more information about geocaching. No GPS required.

This month, four high school students made it to center stage at Overture Hall in Madison for the Final Forte. Theyre all outstanding musicians, competing in this year’s Bolz Young Artist competition. They include violinist Leah Latorraca; cellist Elliot Yang, of New Berlin; violinist Clare Sanders, of Greenfield; and this years winner, Ariela Bohrod, who played her way to top honors with the Madison Symphony Orchestra.

Lori Skelton:

She grew up in a house filled to the rafters with art and music.

Ariela Bohrod:

Whenever I went to my friend’s houses, the first time I would hang out with my friends at their house, where is the art work? Why isn’t there classical music playing?

Lori Skelton:

Her father, Neil, is a prolific painter. Her mother, Ruthanne, is an origami master. Areila has been in love with the piano since she was only four years old, a love that led to a difficult choice for high school. She left family and friends behind for Interlochen Arts Academy, a boarding school in Michigan.

Ariela Bohrod:

I had just turned 14. I remember the week before, I cried every day.

Lori Skelton:

Now a sophomore at Interlochen, Ariela says its arts and music 24/7.

Ariela Bohrod:

Everyone is so serious and focused on their art. It’s amazing to meet kids who are as interested as I am.

Lori Skelton:

She rounds out her education with academic courses and a daily dance class.

Ariela Bohrod:

If Im sitting at a piano for 3-4 hours a day, you get tense, you get tired. When you go to dance, it relaxes everything. The next day, youre rejuvenated and you can practice again.

Lori Skelton:

Areila is making new friends at Interlochen, but still misses her friends back home. During school breaks, she tries to make up the time.

Ariela Bohroad:

We go shopping a lot. We like to go to State Street and eat at the restaurants there. When I’m with them, I try to spend all of my time with them.

Lori Skelton:

Back at school, Arielas time and energy return to her musical goals.

Ariela Bohrod:

I want to have an effect on people that arent musicians, so when they hear me, they feel something.

Patty Loew:

Congratulations to Ariela Bohrod, this year’s winner. To play an instrument well, it helps to start lessons at a young age, and then practice, practice, practice. But paying for music lessons can be expensive, so one music teacher is working hard to make music affordable for low-income families madison.

Liz Koerner:

Bonnie Greene has been giving private music lessons since she moved to Madison in 2000. Before that, she taught music in Milwaukees poorest inner city schools. Now, most of her students come from middle class families. Lexus Carter is an exception.

Lexus Carter:

When I’m having trouble, Bonnie’s always there to help.

Liz Koerner:

Lexus is getting free lessons in part because she started out three years ago in a project created by Greene called Music Makers. Music makers is designed to reach out to low income kids like the ones Greene used to teach in Milwaukee.

Bonnie Greene:

Well, I went from years of working with urban kids, many years, to sitting in this room making my living teaching one child at a time, whose mother or father was sitting right here with their checkbook, and the other children haunted me.

Liz Koerner:

Private music teachers in Madison charge on average about $50 an hour. Violins can be rented, but to buy one it costs from $300 to $500. These expenses are beyond the means of families like Lexus’. Another obstacle is transportation.

Bonnie Greene:

A lot of children do not have someone in the family that can just chauffeur them all over town, they way so many middle class kids are chauffeured.

Liz Koerner:

So Greene brought the lessons right to the kids. Music Makers is offered after school at three community centers. The lessons are offered free or at reduced rates, and the violins are loaned to the kids.

Greene usually hires graduate level college students like Carol Carlson as teachers. Carlson has been teaching this group for two years. She says it’s critical to start violin lesson in second or third grade, well before orchestra classes are offered in public schools.

Carol Carlson:

They might be able to pick up violin in middle school, in a public school orchestra, something like that, and there are a lot of great programs out there that do that. But the set up and the background you get from starting young and starting in a much smaller group is tremendously advantageous.

Liz Koerner:

Music Makers meets twice a week, once in a group like this, and once with only two students at a time. This allows for hands-on help for things like arm and finger placement, as well as attention to bowing and good tone.

Greene says this individual attention may help these kids keep from getting discouraged and dropping out when they get to orchestra class in school.

Bonnie Green:

The definition of a good life is having choices. When you don’t have the money for lessons, and you sit there and try to compete with people who do, you don’t have a prayer. There’s no way, even if your talent is larger than theirs. Yes, so my whole mission has to do with equity.

Liz Koerner:

Students who started lessons with Music Makers three years ago are now starting orchestra classes in school. Greenes hope is that these talented young musicians do well in a larger group, and act as role models in their communities. Her hopes seem like a sure thing with Lexus Carter.

Lexus Carter:

I hope to play the violin for a long time. It’s really fun.

Patty Loew:

There are about 50 students enrolled in Music Makers. Greene has been able to raise private funds for the program. Now, here’s a look at some reports we are working on for the next edition of In Wisconsin.

Jo Garrett:

This is reporter Jo Garrett.

Man:

You want to get them together like this.

Woman:

Tie all four together.

Jo Garrett:

Why have hunters signed up as volunteers with the DNR?

Man:

Weve got a lot of hunters, over 400 now.

Jo Garrett:

What are they doing? We’ll show you next week.

Andy Soth:

Gas prices are on the rise, which could fuel demand for another mode of transportation.

Man:

I saved, maybe, $600 a month by switching to a community car.

Andy Soth:

This is In Wisconsin reporter Andy Soth. Besides saving a lot of green, drivers using community cars are helping the environment.

Patty Loew:

And this is maple syrup time. We’ll take you to Athens, Wisconsin, where it’s an 80-year-old family tradition.

Woman:

It’s kind of a dance. That’s one of the things nice about the syrup season, is both tapping and collecting. .

Patty Loew:

Those In Wisconsin reports next Thursday at 7:30pm, right here on Wisconsin Public Television.

We leave you this week with the rush of water at Wequiock Falls, located just off Highway 57 in Brown County. It’s easy to visit, and in spring it gets moving pretty fast. But in the summer, it slows to a trickle. Enjoy the view of Wequiock Falls, and have a great week in Wisconsin.

Announcer:

Major funding for “In Wisconsin” is provided by the people of Alliant Energy, who bring safe, reliable and environmentally friendly energy to keep homes, neighborhoods and life in Wisconsin running smoothly. Alliant Energy. We’re on for you. And Animal Dentistry and Oral Surgery Specialists of Milwaukee, Oshkosh, and Minneapolis, a veterinary team working with pet owners and family veterinarians, providing care for oral disease and dental problems of small companion animals.