In Wisconsin

In Wisconsin #923

Wisconsin Public Television

Transcript: In Wisconsin, Episode #923

Original Airdate: April 28, 2011

Patty Loew:

Welcome to “In Wisconsin.” I’m Patty Loew. This week, come along to Jurustic Park and meet Marshfield’s dino man.

Clyde Wynia:

I don’t think of myself as much of an artist. I just think I’m having fun. I’m having a ball.

Patty Loew:

And catch our report on an environmentally friendly fishing lure as anglers get ready for the weekend’s opener. Plus, get to the root of the problem with Milwaukee’s tree cop.

Jim Kringer:

That’s my beat, the whole city of Milwaukee. All of it.

Patty Loew:

These reports and it’s the end of an era as we salute a team of retiring journalists 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:

This week, we dedicate our show to “In Wisconsin” reporter Jo Garrett and her crew as they head into retirement. The first place Jo takes you is into a backyard unlike any other. This one is filled with critters and lots of creatures and lots of, well, there’s a reason why it’s called Marshfield park. Come along and explore the wild world of an eclectic artist in Marshfield.

Woman:

What is this?

Jo Garrett:

It started with this. We’re in the backyard of this man, Clyde Wynia.

Clyde Wynia:

I made that about 17 years ago and hung it up in the tree here. Never intended to make anymore. And then one day one of the neighbors came along and he said where did you ever get something like that? The first thing that came to my mind was well, I said I dug it out of the marsh out here. They inhabited the marsh during the iron age. But they’re all extinct now. I couldnt stop with mind and Ive been digging them up and welding them back together ever since.

Jo Garrett:

He couldn’t stop, and now years and thousands of sculptures — I mean excavations later Wynia’s backyard, just outside of Marshfield, is thick with his critters.

Clyde Wynia:

Youll notice everything is rusty. We used to paint some things, but I got tired of it, so we just stayed straight with rust. So Jurustic Park.

Nan Wynia:

The neighbors are very tolerant. Thank goodness.

Jo Garrett:

Nan Wynia, Clyde’s wife, is also an artist. Her studio is in the middle of Jurustic Park.

Clyde Wynia:

Calls it her hobbit house. I had to hire a couple hobbits to stand out front.

Nan Wynia:

When he first started doing these and had them on the deck and people got wind of it, pretty soon people were driving in our driveway.

Jo Garrett:

It was Nan who got the critters herded off the deck and into the backyard. Did you ever think your yard would look like this?

Nan Wynia:

Oh, no. No, no, no. All of a sudden it just exploded. That was 13 years ago. And it just —

Clyde Wynia:

15,000 people just in the summertime.

Jo Garrett:

You can, of course, view Marshfield Park all on your own, but the total experience is best had walking the place with Wynia.

Clyde Wynia:

Now, these are Wisconsin piranhas. Vicious fishes.

Jo Garrett:

That’s because the sculptures, I mean excavations, often have a story.

Clyde Wynia:

Now, here’s a marsh cow. Now, you see those fins that look like shovels? They’re for cooling purposes. It’s hot in the marsh. They’ll flip themselves over on their back and dig themselves right into the muck. [ cow mooing ] Now, this is a swivel-headed swamp watcher. He does 360 degrees. Keeps his eye out for acid rain. And then he can warn the others. We’re working with the hospital now, and it looks like well be able to use it for a backup for the ambulance helicopter. Got a good old, weathered, rusty old system

Jo Garrett:

This is not a place of static visuals.

Clyde Wynia:

This is Cheeky, my new bird.

Jo Garrett:

It’s amazing for excavated animals, they have a lot of motion to them, don’t they?

Clyde Wynia:

Yeah. [ bells ringing ] Ding, dong and donna.

Jo Garrett:

It seems that Wynia’s art manifesto could be summed up in one word: play.

Clyde Wynia:

This is apathetic. He says its springform cephalopathy. It’s chronic rusting disease.

Jo Garrett:

What happened here? Whats his story?

Clyde Wynia:

That’s a kevorkian gunslinger. You know, she’ll do that with a 800-pound skirt.

Jo Garrett:

She’s a gal in motion, isnt she.

Clyde Wynia:

This doesn’t quite fit with the classical artists. Have you noticed that?

Jo Garrett:

Jurustic Park is the kind of place where the phrase a willing suspension of disbelief really adds to the experience. It moves.

Clyde Wynia:

Of course it moves. This is a class operation, lady.

Jo Garrett:

This would be a great office chair. Yes. It’s best just to surrender. Surrender to the fun.

Clyde Wynia:

Hey, you know what a bottle rocket is, don’t you?

Jo Garrett:

Sure.

Clyde Wynia:

Stand over there. I’m going to fire one off.

Jo Garrett

Note that current Wisconsin law on fireworks requires a permit if a fire works device explodes or leaves the ground.

Jo Garrett:

Can I stand right here?

Clyde Wynia:

Yeah.

Jo Garrett:

Do I have to worry about a workplace injury? That law doesn’t apply — we checked — when the bottle rocket is a bottle of water.

Clyde Wynia:

That way you wont get wet. You should be down there.

Man:

We’ll take your word for it.

Clyde Wynia:

Wait a minute. Ready? You got to look way up. Three, two, one, up. I’ll show you what makes that work. You see that hose? Runs in the shop there. My wife’s in there blowing. Nice lungs, huh? She’s a really good woman, you know.

Jo Garrett:

Nan Wynia might be called the co-conspirator of Jurustic Park. She’s a talented artist in many media, currently working in glass.

Nan Wynia:

The faster I move it, the thinner it gets. So I don’t want to pull it too fast. I’m going to get it hot right there and let the heat equalize and push it together, make a little maria, it’s called.

Jo Garrett:

And like Clyde, Nan’s art seems sparked by play.

Nan Wynia:

It’s fun. Look how this glass behaves. It’s wonderful. And when it’s cool, I can take it and use this punty as a and make a loop de loop. That’s a very technical term, loop de loop, on the top, so we can hang it.

Jo Garrett:

The Wynias are both retired. Clyde worked as a lawyer and Nan was a nurse. Their art is now the center of their lives.

Clyde Wynia:

We describe it as play because we don’t describe it as work because we’re loving it.

Nan Wynia:

You have to give yourself permission. Mine doesn’t look like that person’s, but that’s okay. It’s mine. It’s a little wonky, but so am I.

Clyde Wynia:

I don’t think of myself as much of an artist. I just think I’m having fun. I’m having a ball. Positron, very affirmative bird. She flies and sings.

Jo Garrett:

Play. You can see that manifesto in all its glory in the Wynia backyard.

Patty Loew:

Clyde Wynia always welcomes visitors to Jurustic Park just outside Marshfield. You can find out more by going to our website at wpt.org and then click on “In Wisconsin.” Well, anglers hope to pull some monsters out of the water this weekend during Wisconsin’s fishing opener. An environmentally safe lure invented here is revolutionizing fishing. In fact, Popular Science Magazine voted it one of the top ten inventions. This week, Jo Garrett, videographer Frank Boll and sound recorder Brad Wray show you how the inventor is angling for success in Dane county.

Ben Hobbins:

Well I grew up here, just about a block from here up on the hill.

Jo Garrett:

Ben Hobbins grew up fishing in Madisons Lake Mendota.

Ben Hobbins:

Used to come down here right after the paper route at about 5:30 and fish for an hour or two before swim practice in the summer.

Jo Garrett:

He loves to fish and he’s passing on that love of fishing to his daughters.

Ben Hobbins:

Remember how? Okay.

Jo Garrett:

Hobbins has also cast a business into motion that may prove a boon to Wisconsin’s waters. If all goes according to plan, it could help solve a huge environmental problem, revolutionize an industry and reel in mega dollars and jobs. Stop right there. You’re looking at it. This is called a soft lure or soft bait. They’ve been around for about 50 years and they work. Some soft lures look like minnows. Some resemble worms.

Ben Hobbins:

They love these. You get that life look, a real life look, and the fish, they just can’t resist them. I’ve used them my whole life. They’re good.

Jo Garrett:

Hobbins has been in business in marketing and high-tech both here and abroad, but now from his current home in Waunakee he has become a backyard inventor. So we went to his backyard to hear how in the process of solving a fishing problem he had, he solved another problem we all have.

Ben Hobbins:

The winter ice-fishing season was coming up, and I was kind of daydreaming slightly about that, and then I was thinking about how cold my hands would be when I would be putting on these little phosphate tippers we call the little bait.

Jo Garrett:

This is a tipper. And this was Hobbins’ problem.

Ben Hobbins:

So you typically hook on like this on the end of the hook and the fish will come in and you can go ahead and pull on that if you’d like and you’ll see how just easy theyll just come right off. It’s gone. So you’ll go through hundreds of these while you’re fishing.

Jo Garrett:

Misery was the mother of invention.

Ben Hobbins:

I mean, literally it feels like your hands freeze off just because they get ripped off every other strike pretty much or every other fish. And, so I thought, well, how can I solve this? And I thought for a few minutes, and the light went off, and I said, I think I’ve got the idea.

Jo Garrett:

Through his knowledge of high-tech manufacturing, Hobbins came up with a way to strengthen soft lures so this tougher lure stays on the hook.

Jo Garrett:

So I’m fisherman. You’re —

Ben Hobbins:

I’m like a fish and the hook is biting. Ouch. There.

Jo Garrett:

Oh, man.

Ben Hobbins:

Yeah. See, these —

Jo Garrett:

Yeah. Okay. It holds. I got you. Okay. Here’s the part where all the non fishing people are thinking new soft lure. Big deal. Well, it is. That’s because this new technology has a potential payoff for all of us because of where all those many old soft lures ended up.

Ben Hobbins:

You know, boom.

Jo Garrett:

So you lost it.

Ben Hobbins:

Lost. And thats going to the bottom of the lake or floating around and that’s it. Here’s another big — this is another swim. So you get the same thing. Boom. It doesn’t take much pressure. A tube, you know, very popular bait, boom. Okay, now, this is how fast — that’s how fast these lures actually are lost. In the environment, these are all in our lakes and streams. So it’s significant. When you see how easy you lose these and then you realize five decades of that and five decades of 25 million pounds or so of plastic each year, you realize theres billions and billions of pounds that are sitting in there. And it’s not — it’s not breaking down.

Man:

So how is our freeze line looking there?

Jo Garrett:

Plastic. This manufactured material was a critical part, of course, to Hobbins’ quest. As was this place, the Polymer Engineering Center at the UW-Madison. Hobbins came here and met with the center’s co-director Tim Osswald. Osswald saw the problem from the perspective of a plastics professional with concerns about plastics and the environment.

Tim Osswald:

When the lures fall off, and they will end up in the bottom of the lake or a river. They will not bio degrade. It will take thousands of years before this breaks down, if at all.

Jo Garrett:

Thousands?

Tim Osswald:

Thousands of years. Because it’s a polymer. There’s nothing in the bottom of the like that even will cause it to bio degrade because the ultraviolet rays that some could bio degrade the polymer that won’t reach that deep down.

Jo Garrett:

Plastics last and plastics can leach.

Tim Osswald:

The plasticizer that is inside will start leaching out. And now you have, for a pound of these lures, you could have up to a half a pound of plasticizer that is going to seep into the lake.

Jo Garrett:

And these plasticizers that make the lures wiggly include chemicals called salates, and they are, according to Osswald, a cause for concern.

Tim Osswald:

Some of these salates, they can be quite dangerous to children. They have salates in them, which they could emulate estrogen, which can hinder the sexual growth of little boys, for example. And so there are a lot of ugly things. They’re also a carcinogen.

Jo Garrett:

Osswald sees Hobbins plastic product as a solution to a plastics problem and a potential boon to the industry. He’s a vigorous proponent of this material which is so much a part of our modern life.

Man:

Finally get a different person to do it, maybe Steve?

Jo Garrett:

The polymer lab often works with businesses in the state to try out new ideas and test new methods of manufacturing.

Tim Osswald:

There are companies in the state that when they try something out, they come and try it out on our machines. But it is a great resource for the companies in the state.

Jo Garrett:

And in this case, Osswald’s students created these molds for Hobbins.

Tim Osswald:

They don’t look very high-tech, and they aren’t, but they certainly – it’s very clever how they’re made.

Jo Garrett:

The molds are sealed with a new epoxy. The result? An immense cut in the time needed to come up with a prototype.

Tim Osswald:

Otherwise, it would take months if not a year to actually come up with prototypes. We shortened the time to maybe — I think by 30 days or so we had parts.

Jo Garrett:

Score another one for the polymer lab.

Tim Osswald:

He could use any of these molds even on his kitchen table. He could actually cast one of those lures and make it.

Jo Garrett:

Which he did. Hobbins used the models created by the polymer lab to make his soft lure prototypes, which he then brought to the fishing industrys annual show in Las Vegas in July of 2007. His soft lure scored second place in new product development, a huge boost for a new product in a big market and the potential for a great pay-out in businesses and jobs.

Ben Hobbins:

The soft bait market has been estimated by the WisGroup, a Wisconsin company that does new product assessments, at a $250 million market.

Jo Garrett:

Hobbins is thrilled about the potential, for himself, for the lakes, for the state.

Ben Hobbins:

I’ve been an avid outdoorsman my whole life, and to be able to contribute on the conservation side, it makes me feel good. You know, not for me, but for the environment and for fishermen. It just helps everybody.

Patty Loew:

Ben Hobbins has also been instrumental in the effort to restore Lake Delton after it drained in the wake of a devastating breach in the floods of 2008. The lake and all of its fish literally washed away. For more information, go to our website, wpt.org, and then click on “In Wisconsin.” From fishing to forestry, but first we want to begin our next report with a salute. These three treasured members of our “In Wisconsin” team are retiring. So pay attention to Jo Garrett’s cleverly crafted words, videographer Frank Boll’s video and editing, plus the music and audio of sound recordist

Brad Wray as they take you to the state’s largest city for a closer look at a nationally renowned forestry program. And we might be going out on a limb here, but the innovative program is enforced by a man they call the tree cop in Milwaukee.

Jim Kringer:

I monitor the city trees and protect the trees in the city of Milwaukee. From construction damage or other damage that may occur to them. That’s my beat, yeah, the whole city of Milwaukee. All of it.

Jo Garrett:

If there’s a street or sidewalk construction project in Milwaukee, Jim Kringer is there. His beat is trees.

Jim Kringer:

Morning, Tony.

Tony:

How’s it going?

Jim Kringer:

Going all right. We going to be able to clear? Youre going to have to move. Okay. Alright, appreciate it. Ill finish it up now.

Jo Garrett:

They call him the tree cop.

Jim Kringer:

One minute to get where.

Jo Garrett:

Kringer is a man in motion.

Jim Kringer:

I have to come back to shoot this site.

Jo Garrett:

Measuring.

Jim Kringer:

Everything on this side would have had to come out.

Jo Garrett:

Moving.

Jim Kringer:

We’ll get her done. Weve got all the walk in here thats coming out. 13th and Mitchell and the curb and gutter is coming out as well here. I drive about 120 miles a day, and I walk anywhere from 12 to 17 miles a day covering the beat.

Jo Garrett:

Kringer has been walking this beat for 25 years. This is the result. You’re looking at Milwaukee’s urban forest. For many, these trees are an essential part of the city’s infrastructure. Bob McFadden is a former Forestry Services Manager for Milwaukee. Trees can make a city.

Bob McFadden:

If you didnt have this here and it was all concrete and asphalt, reflected heat light, it would be brutal.

Jo Garrett:

Trees can make a city.

Preston Cole:

That’s all you need.

Jo Garrett:

Preston Cole is the Environmental Services Superintendent for the city of Milwaukee.

Preston Cole:

I’m convinced that the social dynamics behind having a well-canopied society, a well-canopied city goes a long way to reducing violence, goes a long way to increasing our property value and it goes a long way to defining ourself as a community.

Jo Garrett:

This canopy also goes a long way in cutting city costs.

Jim Kringer:

We got 284,000 trees in the city of Milwaukee. And those trees save the homeowners and the taxpayers $21 million a year.

Jo Garrett:

According to city officials, the trees of Milwaukee’s urban forest provide $1.5 million a year in cooling costs, $4.5 million in pollution abatement, and $15.5 million in groundwater treatment.

Jim Kringer:

$21 million a year saved by the homeowners in the city of Milwaukee. The more trees we plant, the more money that’s being saved.

Jo Garrett:

And the more trees they save, the more money they save. Bigger trees, bigger canopy. Kringer’s title is urban forestry inspector. It’s a job he helped create from scratch, a job that began on this street.

Jim Kringer:

Back in 1978, august of that year, we had a windstorm come through here. As a sidewalk replacement project had just finished up. And in one evening in august we had 90 trees fall over in this community. They were lying on top of houses, they were lying on top of cars.

Jo Garrett:

It was an expensive mess, and people were mad. Kringer was hired and armed with the skills gained from a summer forestry job, an interest in construction and a B.A. in English, off he went in search of an answer, in search of a solution.

Jim Kringer:

And the alderman wanted to know why, why these trees were falling over in the city of Milwaukee.

Jo Garrett:

So began a 25-year odyssey that has resulted in a nationally-recognized tree inspection program that has produced spectacular results. Before Kringer came, tree losses in Milwaukee numbered in the hundreds.

Jim Kringer:

City of Milwaukee averaged a loss of between 400 to 600 annually that fell over primarily in construction sites. From 1981 up until now, 2005, we’ve had less than 50 fall over in construction sites.

Jo Garrett:

The campaign to save this canopy begins at ground level, or below, where the roots meet the street.

Jim Kringer:

If you cut through too many stabilizers, okay, the tree can no longer support itself during wind storms and then the tree is going to fall over. Take a look in here. This is where I’ve got my root plate. Anytime you cut into this, this is going to rot directly into the tree. And everything on this section of the tree would eventually rot out, meaning all of these roots would rot. You’d have no support on this side of the tree whatsoever.

Jo Garrett:

Many communities simply ditch the trees. They value the straight line. Milwaukee values its trees. Consider this old beauty.

Jim Kringer:

This is an American Elm, one of the largest ones in the city of Milwaukee that’s still left.

Jo Garrett:

It’s an old beauty with bulging roots that raised up the sidewalk and got in the way.

Jim Kringer:

Most communities they’d cut it down. It’s cheaper for them to cut the tree down, not to have it impact on construction.

Jo Garrett:

Milwaukee didn’t cut it down. They went around. To save a tree, Kringer will insist that they narrow a walk.

Jim Kringer:

We’ve already reduced the walk by a foot.

Jo Garrett:

Raise a walk.

Jim Kringer:

So my new walk is actually going to be this high, which is going to go over the entire root system itself.

Jo Garrett:

He’ll insist on certain equipment, whatever it takes.

Jim Kringer:

It’s all for the trees. All for the trees.

Jo Garrett:

This is the tree cop’s favorite case. Layton Avenue.

Jim Kringer:

If the original had been nested, the road would have been here, would have gone through the center of every single tree on this project, so all 280 trees would have had to come out.

Jo Garrett:

It didn’t happen.

Jim Kringer:

The cathedral that you have is going to be here for a long time yet to come. It’s beautiful. It really is. And it adds to the neighborhood. Every time you drive down that block or that area, you say look what the city’s done, look what the city’s accomplished, because you could have gone in there and cut everything down. Every single tree on that project could have come down. How long does a man live? 87, 88 years? When we’re gone, they’re still going to be here. They’re still going to be growing. Still going to be strong.

Patty Loew:

Spring is a busy time for Jim Kringer and the tree inspection program. He also teaches classes at UW-Madison in sidewalk management and how to preserve trees in an urban environment during construction. Now here’s a look at some of the reports we’re working on for the next edition of “In Wisconsin.”

Man:

Wow. It was an absolute —

Adam Shrager:

The images are striking. And while they’re used for training my meteorologists, they were taken by a dentist.

Man:

We always need more people to understand what they’re looking at in Wisconsin.

Adam Shrager:

I’m “In Wisconsin” reporter Adam Schrager. Despite all the technology, see how real people are needed in front of the storm to protect their communities from severe weather.

Woman:

One day, it may be possible to help yourself to free fruit like this apple all across the state. And it all starts with a hole in the ground and some dedicated volunteers.

Jo Garrett:

This Wisconsin island getaway once entertained the rich and famous.

Man:

A lot of the people that we recognize from the history books came out here and did business with Chester.

Jo Garrett:

A look at Chester Thorgisons bright idea and the reason this place looks a lot like Iceland. Those “In Wisconsin” reports next Thursday at 7:30 right here on Wisconsin Public Television.

Patty Loew:

Finally, another heart-felt goodbye for three colleagues, Jo Garrett, Frank Boll and Brad Wray. They’ve worked on hundreds of reports through the years, along with documentaries on wolves, birds, landscapes, the ice age trail, and the list and awards go on and on. They will be missed not only for their outstanding work, but also for their friendship and the experiences they shared with us and our viewers. So we honor their work and achievements. Like the birds over Peninsula State Park in Door County, we hope Jo, Brad and Frank soar in retirement. 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.