The Wisconsin Urban Forestry Council is pleased to announce the addition of three new members to the group. We are especially pleased to have increased our geographic and professional diversity and look forward to working with them on issues related to Wisconsin’s urban and community forests.
Our new members are:
Lee Fredericks. Lee is currently the Territory Manager for Rainbow Treecare Scientific Advancements covering Illinois and Eastern Wisconsin. Rainbow is a company that prides itself on creating fundamental breakthroughs in the green industry by advancing the preservation of trees throughout the country. Before joining Rainbow in 2017, Lee had over 27 years of experience in many sectors throughout the green industry including owning a Tree Care/Plant Health Care Company and managing the Corporate Grounds Department for a 300-acre Fortune 500 Corporate Campus. Other professional positions include Branch Manager for Brickman Group and Business Development Executive for Asplundh in Milwaukee. He is also serving as a Village of Slinger Trustee and a member of the Village’s Planning Commission. Lee is passionate about building trusted relationships with members of the green industry and delivering quality service and ongoing support of tree health and the plant care and management techniques.
Matthew Staudenmeier. Matt has been an Arborist for the City of Eau Claire for the past 18 years and is currently the Forestry Department Supervisor for the city. Prior to moving to Eau Claire, he worked for the City of Green Bay Forestry Department and for a small tree care company in Santa Fe, NM. Growing up near a neighborhood park, he witnessed the removal of large American elms early in his childhood- never dreaming he would eventually work with some of the same members of that crew. In his position with the City of Eau Claire, Matt leads a team of five fulltime ISA Certified Arborists, and is charged with the maintenance of over 32,000 street trees. Emerald Ash Borer and diversification of the City’s tree population will continue to be the major challenges facing his Department, along with constricted budgets and labor force. Finding creative solutions while maintaining public trust and respect has been vital to his success both individually and as a Supervisor for the City. Fostering growth opportunities for individuals, keeping up on new developments in the industry, and being willing to try/ pitch-in has led to a successful career and pride in a community facing significant changes in a less and less predictable time.
Nilesh Timilsina. Nilesh has been an Assistant Professor of Forest Mensuration/Biometry at the University Wisconsin Stevens Point (UWSP) since 2013. He teaches courses in applied statistics and forest measurements. He has PhD in Forest Biometrics from the University of Florida (UF). Prior to joining UWSP, he worked as a post-doctoral research associate at the Urban Forestry-Ecosystem Service Lab in UF for two and half years. He is also currently serving as an Associate Editor for the Urban Forestry and Urban Greening journal. He has almost two dozen publications in scientific journals and has given a similar number of presentations in scientific meetings. His past research focused on forest ecology, growth and yield modeling, and ecosystem services estimation and valuation. Nilesh has completed numerous research projects related to urban forestry including carbon dioxide emission reduction by urban trees, invasive species in urban areas, carbon storage and sequestration by urban trees, factors affecting carbon storage in urban areas, and biomass and wood waste generated from urban areas. He has also researched socio-economic issues related to urban forest management; for example, he was involved in collaborative research projects investigating volunteer participation in urban forestry related activities and studied the impact of urban forest structure on property values. Furthermore, he has developed allometric equations for predicting leaf area, leaf biomass, and whole tree biomass of urban trees.
The purpose of the Wisconsin Urban Forestry Council is to advise the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on the best ways to preserve, protect, expand and improve Wisconsin’s urban and community forest resources. All meetings are open to the public and posted on http://dnr.wi.gov/Calendar/Meetings/. For further information, contact Sara Minkoff, Urban Forestry Council Liaison, sara.minkoff@wi.gov.