Monday 7/27/26: DNR PFAS testing, Capitol Notes, Economy Check-In, trees & heat

David Lee: Support for WUWM podcasts comes from Potawatomi Casino Hotel Milwaukee, home to 24/7 excitement, dining, and an on-site hotel at 1721 West Canal Street. More information at potawatomi.com.

Joy Powers: From 89.7 WUWM, Milwaukee's NPR, this is Lake Effect. I'm Joy Powers. Today we'll tell you about a DNR project that should give us a clearer picture of PFAS contamination in the state. Then we'll check in with a local farmer and how the summer heat is impacting his dairy cows.

Tom Oberhaus: My feelings, this is the hottest July maybe that I've ever experienced here in Wisconsin. So I would say to summarize it would be the tremendous ups and downs in the weather.

Joy Powers: Plus, we'll look at how extreme heat is affecting trees in our area.

Adam Passo: Some trees are better than others, you know? There's trees that are used to being next to rivers and lowland areas. They get planted up high next to houses, and that's not what they like. So they're going to have a rougher time.

Joy Powers: All of that is coming up on Lake Effect. This is Lake Effect from 89.7 WUWM, Milwaukee's NPR. I'm Joy Powers, and thank you so much for joining us. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is taking a new approach to managing PFAS in the state. PFAS are a group of human-made chemicals called forever chemicals. They don't break down and can have an impact on people's health. The chemicals are found in products like fabric and cookware, as well as firefighting foam. PFAS have contaminated drinking water sources and soil in the state, and the DNR is working to get a clearer picture of the levels of contamination with new testing. Crews are collecting samples from 150 sites across the state looking for PFAS and a second chemical compound known as PAHs. Wisconsin DNR hydrogeologist Erin Endsley is overseeing the project. She joins WUWM Environmental Reporter Susan Bence to share what they hope to learn.

Erin Endsley: PFAS are considered chemicals that are really resistant to breakdown in the environment. And because of their long history of production and release into the environment, they're a class of contaminants of particular concern when we're looking at conducting environmental cleanup, because they're very persistent and long lasting. And we do know that there are health effects associated with them. PAHs on the other hand, those can be naturally occurring, or caused from, largely, combustion, or releases from the environment from combustion, or other activities. So those can be associated with both naturally occurring sources, as well as release to the environment from combustion activities, a variety of sources.

Susan Bence: Can you give an example of where PAHs might be present?

Erin Endsley: Sure. So one of the primary examples that we have of PAH contamination in Wisconsin, we have a lot of former manufactured gas plants. And those sites are known to use coal and other organic contaminant sources to produce manufactured gas. And the byproducts of that were very high in PAH contamination. And so we see, you know, upland settings, waterways that have been contaminated historically by those sources.

Susan Bence: Are they in any way easier to clean up than PFAS, or is that not the case?

Erin Endsley: I would say it depends. So when we're looking at PAHs, we know from past sampling in the state that PAHs are relatively ubiquitous at really low concentrations, partly because they are somewhat naturally occurring. But we also know through past industrial activity, especially in large urban areas, such as Milwaukee, we see a lot of past combustion sources, right? You can't have development without that, historically. So we know we have a lot of what we call an urban signature of PAH contamination. And the difficulty, especially when you're looking at background, is evaluating what are we seeing that's actually associated with a release at the site from actual contamination, versus what may be there from naturally occurring sources or from some kind of urban signature from atmospheric deposition or the past history of development and all the combustion sources that came along with it.

Susan Bence: So how did this summer of 2026 sampling come about? How did this initiative come together?

Erin Endsley: So, I think you can probably appreciate that there's been a lot of thought placed into PFAS and how do we regulate that statewide. And it creates certain problems, because we're still trying to get a handle on: what are appropriate cleanup levels? What is the risk from exposure to these contaminants? The research is still ongoing.

Susan Bence: Mhm.

Erin Endsley: And what we're also finding is that some of those cleanup levels can be quite low. And based on the data we've been seeing in the state and elsewhere, we think that there may be, perhaps, an atmospheric deposition component that's resulting in statewide background concentrations of PFAS that may actually be above some of our soil cleanup standards. So we have been reviewing and watching the state of the science. We've been watching particularly other states that have conducted soil background studies and really looking at the data to see what they're finding. And many of those state studies have sort of confirmed the hypothesis that there does seem to be an atmospheric deposition component where we are seeing a PFAS signature in surface soils in many states. And we really wanted to get a handle on: what are we seeing in Wisconsin? Will we see something similar or not? And then how will we use that information to inform how we move forward at cleanup sites? And we also have a kind of a interesting study from the University of Wisconsin and our DNR air program of precipitation statewide. And they did seem to indicate that there does seem to be atmospheric deposition of PFAS occurring, based on the concentrations that they're seeing in precipitation samples. So we are looking to confirm that through looking at analysis of the soil statewide.

Susan Bence: Dig into that atmospheric deposition. Explain what that means.

Erin Endsley: So for atmospheric deposition, we're looking at sources of contaminants into the air, which then can then be transported short distances, long distances. And what we think we see with PFAS is that PFAS can transform in the environment, including in the atmosphere. So we're looking at sort of like longer distance from a source rather than a near source. So kind of an ambient background or baseline concentration from those. You know, could be quite far source from you know what we're seeing in the state.

Susan Bence: Let's just step into the actual sampling. What is the process that each team followed?

Erin Endsley: Sure. So if I can give a little bit of background too on the location selection, I think we really tried to look at identifying potential sampling locations statewide that had a history of not being disturbed, based on land cover databases that we could access. We utilized DNR-owned properties, so state parks, natural areas. We looked at where these locations were, statewide. We wanted to have good geographic distribution statewide to really understand what's that statewide signature. And then really trying to make sure they were not adjacent to any known contaminant sources or releases to the environment. So really trying to control for getting good locations that would represent a true background signature and not a potential contribution from a contaminant source. So in the field, we divided the state up into eight sampling teams. And each sampling team had about 20 to 30 locations to go out and sample. The primary process was approaching the location, identifying a good spot within the area we'd identified as undisturbed, scraping off any leaf litter, topsoil, doff, anything like that that was in the way of getting a good surface soil sample. So we're really identifying kind of that top layer of soil where we would expect to see any kind of signature from an atmospheric deposition source. And we were collecting samples for both PAHs and PFAS. Part of that collection process is doing the documentation at the site of: what is the soil type? What's the vegetation type? What kind of land use is nearby? Do you see anything that could potentially be a source that we hadn't identified in our original location search? So really just documenting the site through notes, photographs, things like that, so that we can then go back later if we see something odd in the results and try and determine, "Hmm, was there a reason for that, or is this really truly a background signature that we're seeing?"

Susan Bence: They went to two different labs, depending on what the sample was for, right?

Erin Endsley: Yes, we use the State Lab of Hygiene to do the PFAS analysis, and we're contracting at the private lab for the PAH analysis. Our state lab was not able to do that work, and so that's why we contracted with a private lab.

Susan Bence: The information gleaned, the results, could be used to calculate statewide threshold values in soil. Why is that important to what we're learning about PFAS and PAHs in our environment?

Erin Endsley: Yeah. So the data set, we will use to calculate background threshold values if we see concentrations that appear to be over our cleanup standards. So we may not calculate background threshhold values for all PAHs or all PFAS. But for those specific compounds where it does look like our background concentrations are greater than clean up levels, we have the authority in Wisconsin under our soil cleanup standard code to apply background levels as the appropriate soil cleanup standards, because you can't really differentiate between, "Is this concentration that we're seeing from background, or is it from a source at the site?" And so we choose to regulate at levels above background when background is greater than the soil cleanup's standard. So with that, for those specific contaminants, we look at: what is that range of concentrations that are being detected, and we do some statistical evaluation to determine, of that range of concentrations, what is the appropriate value to apply as a background value? And so we're usually using like an upper-end concentration, not an average concentration, because you need to think of background as a range of concentrations, not a specific number. So for example, we have an arsenic background threshold value that we apply statewide. We've been doing this since 2013, and that's about eight part per million. But that doesn't mean... Background arsenic statewide is eight. It ranges from zero to eight. We know that we have naturally occurring arsenic statewide. So it allows us to have a defensible number that we can support with data, that we could use in site decision-making. And that helps our regulated parties by being clear with what the expectations are for how they're being held to. You know, what are the expectations about clean up at a site?

Susan Bence: Clearly, Erin, there's a lot of concern about PFAS in our state and other states, concern that at the national level there's not going to be the, at least in the short term, the attention and guidance that people are looking for in remediation. So when you look at this specific initiative that you're overseeing, how might its result help guide next steps in tackling PFAS in our environment in Wisconsin? I know that's kind of a big, unwieldy question.

Erin Endsley: No, I think it's a great question, and it really highlights what I feel like every state is really struggling with right now. We don't have all the answers. And when you work in a program that has regulatory authority, it complicates your work greatly when you don't clear answers, you don't have clear expectations. The science is still evolving on PFAS, on what risk it represents for human health in the environment. And with the lack of leadership on the federal level, it only makes it more complicated on the state level. So I would say our study is just one piece of the overall picture to try and help understand what is happening in our state, in the state of Wisconsin, to help us move forward with making decisions at sites. And I feel like we've had a good variety of state studies really trying to understand what we're seeing. I think the studies that we have done, that we are doing, that other states are doing overall help inform that national picture of how to best regulate PFAS. And I think everybody is watching everyone else to see what they're coming up with. We're all working on this together, and we're all trying to figure out what the best path forward is. So I think this study just helps fill in one piece of the puzzle.

Susan Bence: In your work and in what you see, both within your team and across the work of the DNR on PFAS, is there a particular sign of hope or progress that helps keep you going in your work?

Erin Endsley: I guess what I would say: I feel like, as far as moving forward, I think there's a commitment that I see of everyone really taking a problem-solving approach and a collaborative approach to trying to answer some of these questions. I feel that, when we've worked with other states, everybody's been very collaborative. We're all working together. And that makes you feel a little bit less alone. It's not just, "Oh, the state of Wisconsin has to figure this out." We are all trying to figure it out. And knowing that there's currently a huge focus on research to understand transport of PFAS in the environment, every state, federal-level entities, working on better understanding PFAS. I think it just feels like we're all working on trying to solve the same problems. And that's different than when you feel like you're the only one trying to solve the problem. So that gives me some hope, I guess.

Joy Powers: Erin Endsley is the hydrogeologist program coordinator with the Wisconsin DNR's remediation program. She spoke with WUWM Environmental Reporter Susan Bence. You can find more of Susan's coverage of PFAS at wuwm.com.

Maayan Silver: This is Capital Notes from Milwaukee's NPR. I'm Maayan Silver, speaking with JR Ross, editor of wispolitics.com. Hi JR, thanks for joining me.

JR Ross: Oh, thanks for having me.

Maayan Silver: Well, it's been a tumultuous past few weeks for Democrats in Wisconsin's governor's race. First, as we discussed, County Executive David Crowley dropped out of the race and endorsed Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez. Then Rodriguez discovered that her campaign manager was mismanaging the campaign finances and she dropped out the race. Then Crowley got back in and Governor Evers endorsed him. What should voters make of this?

JR Ross: Well, this is a play by an establishment figure to try and shape the primary. Now looking back, when Missy Hughes dropped out of the race, it was pretty simple. It wasn't like some of the parties said, "Hey, you don't have a shot, you should drop out." It was: she came to the conclusion that she had no path to win the nomination and no money to get there even if she did have a path. When Crowley dropped out the first time, same thing: no money, no path. When Rodriguez dropped out, it was because the campaign was a mess. But it wasn't people were telling them, "Hey, you don't have a shot. You need to leave this race. This is an example of somebody in the establishment, i.e. Tony Evers, trying to put his thumb on the scale of the primary and saying that he doesn't think Francesca Hong can win in November, so he's going for broke with David Crowley. Now, we'll see if it works. The question is: are there enough resources behind Crowley to leap him back in the top tier of candidates? And are there are enough people who are worried about Hong's chance of success in November to kind of turn against her or not vote for her come August 11th in the primary.

Maayan Silver: And you were talking about Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong. She's leading the polls. And interestingly, Republicans are apparently running ads on behalf of her in this primary season. What are your takeaways there?

JR Ross: I think the Republican Governors Association is up to around $3.8 million so far that's reported, spending in the state to quote-unquote "oppose Hong." But, if you look at the ad, it features her saying that she's the only candidate who would take the party back to its progressive roots. It talks about opposition to Donald Trump's immigration policies, her opposition to ICE. It's running heavily in Madison and Milwaukee, which are two markets that are key for Democrats. There are buys on cable that suggest that this is really about trying to highlight her positions for Democratic primary voters. You know, you see this all the time: parties, groups, playing in primaries, trying to get their favorite candidate, because Republicans believe that Francesca Hong is unelectable come November. And if they get her, then it makes it easier for Tom Tiffany to win the governor's office come November.

Maayan Silver: And back to the Crowley situation: on the last episode of Capital Notes, you said that there are no, you know, sort of like smoke-filled rooms with establishment Democrats kind of pulling the strings about the governor's race. You just mentioned Evers, as an establishment Democrat, trying to put his thumb on the race. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has reported on political operatives that maybe argued that Mandela Barnes was struggling, and they wanted Crowley to get back in after Rodriguez dropped out. Do you know if Crowley made his decision on his own or were there people in his ear?

JR Ross: There are people in his ear. I mean, he said that he got encouragement from people and that he prayed about it and got back in. And Governor Evers, I've had sources tell me before this was all breaking that there are people around governor Evers who were encouraging him to get back in. The question is: will it work, or will it split the party? I mean, if Francesca Hong loses the primary now because Tony Evers got involved, what's that going to do for her supporters come November? Are they going to stay at home? Are they gonna say, "Hey, the heck with this; the establishment people went and put their thumb on the scale for David Crowley; we don't like this?" I don't know. You know, Mandela Barnes, you mentioned him. I've seen private polling that he was kind of, I don't wanna say sinking, but not doing particularly well for somebody that has the highest name-ID coming into the primary. So he's kind of treading water. So there are a lot of unknowns here. What I can tell you is: I don't hear from many people talking about Joel Brennan or Kelda Roys as real threats to win the nomination. It's really a question of: can anybody overtake Hong? Is there enough money for Crowley to overtake her? I've seen buys from groups supporting him. He says he raised $550,000 in the first few days after he got in. I don't know if that's enough. And talking to people in politics, they aren't sure that's enough money to vault him from having dropped out, to first place in a matter of weeks.

Maayan Silver: And it's a little bit of looking backwards instead of looking forwards, but do you have any insights on what was happening to the financials on Rodriguez's campaign?

JR Ross: So basically, her campaign manager was double counting contributions and wasn't recording expenditures. So we went back and looked in her report that was filed in January, and there were all kinds of donations that had been basically entered twice. In fact, we went and looked through the month of December. There were like 700-ish donations listed. Only about 15 or 16 were actually entered one time. One name, one address, one amount. We found the others all had same name, same date, same amount, same address, which looked odd. It looks like they were double counting contributions, which inflated her numbers by thousands and thousands of dollars. I think we counted at the time, like $275,000 in donations that were listed twice. Means they were probably inflated by $137,500, at least. So that put her in a very bad position. We've not heard much from her since she dropped out. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly went wrong and if there's anything criminal there, or if it was just incompetence. But it really took the shine off of her campaign and proved to be insurmountable for her to be able to win the nomination.

Maayan Silver: This is Capital Notes, I'm Maayyan Silver, speaking with JR Ross of WisPolitics.com. And do you think there will be any consequences to that, aside from Rodriguez having had to drop out of the campaign?

JR Ross: It depends. Depends what they find. It depends if any district attorney looks into it, or if there's a complaint with the ethics commission and they look into it. I mean, there are all kinds of unknowns at this point about what went on and why. We just know that it was a fatal mistake for Rodriguez to trust her campaign manager the way she did and not know what was going on.

Maayan Silver: And with all these musical chairs of candidates on the Democratic side, what does all this shifting around mean for voters who may have already cast absentee ballots?

JR Ross: The Elections Commission has said you cannot spoil your ballot and have a do-over. So if you've already turned in your absentee ballot and you voted for somebody who's dropped out, that's it. You can't ask for it back and do it again now. That wasn't the case before. They vote 4-2, I can't remember what date it was, to say you can't spoil your ballot. But that is now an issue for people, because we have to send out absentees ballots as early as we do in Wisconsin because of federal requirements to make sure that overseas voters, those in the military get their ballots in time. So with such a long window, if you catch your ballot right away, you do risk that somebody could drop out of the race that you voted for. I can't remember, like sometime last week, more than 80,000 were turning their ballots in already. So we're well north of that at this point, and that's it. If you voted and you don't like who you voted for it, you're done. You're stuck with that person through the primary.

Maayan Silver: Democrats are suing the Wisconsin Elections Commission about that though, right?

JR Ross: There's a lawsuit, like how quickly can that move? You know, there's a principle in elections that you don't want to change the rules of the game while things are going on. Now Democrats argued the Elections Commission changed the rules right before voting started. They're not happy about that. I just don't know how quickly a court can move to say yay or nay if these guys should be able to spoil their ballots. And then what? Do we go to the appeals process? The Supreme Court? How quickly can that all move to have an answer before August 11th?

Maayan Silver: And we're talking a lot about the Democrats and the Democratic primary. There is actually, technically, a competitive Republican primary. US Congressman Tom Tiffany is the Republican front runner. He's secured endorsements from Trump and the Republican Party of Wisconsin. The Journal Sentinel reports he's raised over $2 million in the last reporting period, but he does have a competitor on the ballot: Andy Manske, a 27-year-old medical services technician. What can you tell us about Manske and his role in the election?

JR Ross: He just hasn't been able to raise a whole lot of money. Hasn't gotten a whole lotta attention. I interviewed him for a series that we did at WisPolitics in conjunction with Wisconsin Eye. We interviewed all the candidates in the primaries. Tiffany declined to participate. But, you know, Manske just hasn't gotten a lot of attention or a lot of support, and all the money's flowing toward Tiffany. Along with the money that he raised personally, you know, the state party transferred, like, $6 million for his campaign over the first six months of the year. They are fully invested in Tom Tiffany, and that money's flowing from big donors: Diane Hendricks, Liz Uline, Dick Uline all gave some of your checks to the party. The party then transfered money to Tiffany. The interesting thing to me is, even with the kind of being unanswered on the airwaves and being all on his own, the Marquette Poll found pretty much most of those head-to-head matchups, the hypothetical ones between Tiffany and Democrats, were basically neck-and-neck. So despite having the financial advantage by having the airways himself, he's not kind of dusting the Democratic field. Part of that's because of Donald Trump. Trump's poll numbers are the worst they've ever been in the Marquette Poll. That is going to be a drag on Tom Tiffany, unless Trump turns things around. So the worse Trump is doing, the better it is for Democrats, even with all the mess that they have on their hands in this primary

Maayan Silver: And you mentioned the Marquette Law School poll. I want to ask a little bit about that. That recently came out. But first, is there one issue that's standing out as really distinguishing the candidates from each other, both on the Republican and Democratic sides?

JR Ross: You know, it's interesting. In talking to people, Francesca Hong is the only candidate for governor on either side who is saying she wants a flat-out moratorium on data centers. Now, others have called for regulations, to get these in place quickly. But, for a flat-out moratorium, she's the one. And that is a quite popular issue with, or stance with, voters. That's interesting. You look at the field among Democrats, you know, there are various nuances about where they're at on the School of Choice program, or raising taxes on the wealthy, or Act 10, those kinds of things. There's a whole lot of difference. But with that moratorium, that is one thing that sets Francesca Hong apart from the others.

Maayan Silver: And on that issue, it was in the Marquette poll, only 5% of voters surveyed said that data centers were their top issue. But there's still an interesting development there: just 22% said the benefits of these projects outweigh the costs. That's down from October 2025 when 44% of the voters thought the benefits were greater. So data centers have fallen even further out of favor with Wisconsin voters. Is there any other way that's playing out in the governor's race?

JR Ross: Not really. But look, the number one issue for voters by far is the cost of living. That's what's going to define this race. What's going on with people with their personal situation, their jobs, their grocery bill, their utility bill, how things are going for them financially? That is driving everything. The cost of gas. So whoever can harness that issue the best probably has the best shot to win. Republicans only have a challenge with Trump and the White House. They want Hong because they think they can define her on, you know, being soft on crime, or saying she wanted to abolish the police, or this whole protest in Madison where she said that the Black man was "executed" by police. They think they can use all those lines that she's had against her and make her unpalatable to swing voters come fall.

Maayan Silver: What are you going to be most watching for in the Democratic debate tomorrow?

JR Ross: Does anybody stand out? Is there a viral moment? Look, these debates, I've covered them for years. We've read about them extensively. Anymore, let's be honest, it's late July on a Tuesday night. Who all's paying attention? Who's tuning in? Are people really undecided who are tuning in? Are people who are already engaged tuning in? So if they're not, if people are already engaged or tuning in, they probably already know who they're gonna vote for. You're looking for a viral movement, good or bad, something where one candidate breaks free from the pack because of issue-X, or has a big fumble. And that plays out in social media. And then you have ads that run. That's really what you'll watch for in a debate: does it change the race because somebody has a bit slip up, or a big bright moment that really lives on in social media for a few days after the debate is over?

Maayan Silver: Okay, we'll be watching for that. Thanks for the insights, JR. And as always, thanks for joining me on Capital Notes.

JR Ross: Anytime.

Joy Powers: Just like Capital Notes, Lake Effect is available as a podcast. Find it wherever you get your podcasts. Then subscribe, download, and listen on-demand. In about 10 minutes, we'll learn how to spot when your trees may be heat-stressed, and how you can help. But first we'll check in with a local farmer on how the summer heat is impacting his dairy farm.

Tom Oberhaus: Dairy price is down pretty low. It's certainly below break-even, but we're all optimists. We just keep going at it. We do it for the love of the cows, and we have faith that in the long term it'll even out.

Joy Powers: That's coming up on Lake Effect on 89.7 WUWM, Milwaukee's NPR. You're listening to Lake Effect on 89.7 WUWM. I'm Joy Powers. July has been dry and hot, which aren't ideal conditions for farmers or their cows. Tom Oberhaus is the co-operator of Cozy Nook Farm in Waukesha County. Cozy Nook is primarily a dairy farm, and it supplements its business with seasonal pumpkin and Christmas tree sales. Lake Effect's Sam Woods last spoke with Oberhaus at the beginning of the planting season, and he checks back in with him now to see how the summer is going.

Sam Woods: So Tom, last time we spoke, it was in the spring and you were really starting to get stuff in the ground. I think some alfalfa was coming up, some triticale was coming up, and you were planning for the year. And one thing that you mentioned at the time was, well, we're looking at a break-even year. Fuel prices are a little higher than we expected. Already had booked your fertilizer, so that was fine. But kind of looking ahead in the forecast for a break-even year. So how are we looking now?

Tom Oberhaus: At this point, it's just up to the good Lord to send us some rain. So it's been a very up-and-down year. April was, you know, among the wettest Aprils in history. People were worried if they were going to get crops in the ground. And then May turned so dry that we wondered if it was ever going to rain again. And then we got a beautiful rain on June 6th, which saved the crops for then. And we got more rains in June. But now, July has hit with some real heat. I mean, this is some of the hotter weather we've experienced without rain. And there's... Yeah, you gotta stretch your imagination to see thunderstorms in the forecast. As a farmer, we always just kind of assume when you have hot muggy weather when the front passes, you'll get a nice thunderstorm. And hopefully we get a nice thunderstorm. Not bad storms, but just a good rain. So we're just praying for a good rain, and then we can have a pretty decent crop here.

Sam Woods: How does that affect your farm financially? Like, how does that make a dollar impact?

Tom Oberhaus: Yeah, you know, we need the corn to not only feed the cows, but to have a little extra corn to sell, hopefully. Soybeans are a cash crop for us, and we need August rains to make soybeans. And of course we need to grow enough hay to feed the cows. So yeah, if we turn into a drought drought here then that we will suffer pretty harshly and we'll grab 'er by the bootstraps and go at it next spring with a good attitude again.

Sam Woods: Good attitude. I know to expect that from you, Tom. So Cozy Nook is a dairy farm. Cows are kind of the stars of the show here. How the cow is handling this weather, and what's the year ahead look like for them?

Tom Oberhaus: So cows do not like heat. 50 degrees is perfect weather for a cow, and of course we're way above that. We've got some pretty good fans in that, much better fans than we had in the old days, but the heat really knocks the cows for a loop, production-wise. We'll see how it struggles on here, but by the end of the week we will probably be down 15 or 20% on milk production, and that's not the big concern. The bigger concern is the health of the cows. Sometimes an extended heat spell can really cause longer-term health problems. So I'm praying that it'll cool off and we'll get a nice rain.

Sam Woods: So you're not just physically on the farm all the time. You were at a dairy convention, I believe, last week. You'll have state fair obligations coming up. You've got county fair, things happening. But let's start with that dairy convention. Can you talk about where you were last week and what you were doing?

Tom Oberhaus: So we were in Iowa for the National Brown Swiss Convention. It's an annual convention, usually held in early July each year. It kind of moves around the Midwest. It's just a good opportunity to, uh, visit some dairies in that area and, uh, also talk to other dairymen and breeders. And it's a convention that is very interested in the genetic side of things. So, there's always new things coming out in the genetic world. Technology is doing wonderful things for us as far as identifying things in the genetic world and helping us breed around them and to just breed better cows that are healthier and longer living and produce more milk.

Sam Woods: Did you get any indication of how the dairy economy is feeling, that dairy producers, I guess, are feeling at large at this convention?

Tom Oberhaus: Not very good. Dairy price is down pretty low. It's certainly below break even. But we're all optimists. We just keep going at it. We do it for the love of the cows. And we have faith that in the long-term it'll even out, and better times are ahead.

Sam Woods: A bit of a double-barrel question for you: right now here in July 2026, what is economically boosting you, boosting Cozy Nook Farm? Like what's been a blessing for you? And on the flip side, kind of what's holding you back? It sounds like maybe it's a tough time for dairy. But you know, what's holding you back? And what's holding you up right now?

Tom Oberhaus: Yeah, good question. So yes, dairy is, you know, we're probably lucky to be breaking even. And we're below water, I would say, on the dairy right now. But our pumpkin and Christmas tree business is what has been the bright spots for us the last few years. And we laughingly say that the pumpkins actually support our cow hobby. Obviously the cows are more than a hobby, but we like to milk cows. That's what we love to do. As most dairymen, you milk cows cause you love it. You've got to make enough money to survive, but our goal is not to stash up money to do wild things and that. We just want to make money to stay alive and milk cows and farm for another year. That's what makes us happy.

Sam Woods: 2026 and all the years that you've been farming, right? You've been at this for a bit. When you think of 2026, what do you think you'll remember about this year, or what was unique about this year in your world?

Tom Oberhaus: Oh wow. You know, every year is unique. But like I say, this year was unique in that we had that beautiful shot of weather at the end of March. That allowed us to get some things done. And then April was unbelievably wet. We're like "wow." And then May, unbelievably dry. And then June, pretty nice. And now July, hot and dry. I mean this is, right now... I don't know what the weathermen are saying, but in my feelings, this is the hottest July, maybe, that I've ever experienced here in Wisconsin. So I would say, to summarize, it would be the tremendous ups and downs in the weather. It just seems really, really up and down and up and down.

Sam Woods: And that's a tough one because that's completely out of your control.

Tom Oberhaus: Certainly so, certainly so. Yes, yes. And May, when it was so dry, it was also very cold. So the crops were really very slow to get going. And then June, we had the nice rain that really took off. And of course, now they're struggling because it's hot and we don't have enough juice.

Sam Woods: You're listening to 89.7 WUWM, Milwaukee's NPR. I am Lake Effect's Sam Woods, speaking with Tom Oberhaus, who is the co-operator of Cozy Nook Farm. And Tom, in our last conversation, in the spring, we were talking about hoping that we get a full five-year farm bill. It's been renewed annually since 2023, but you're looking for a five-year, "this is what it's going to be," set plan. And you know, you were saying, like, "Yeah, big document, hopefully we have some kind of floor on milk prices." That's kind of what you're looking for from it. But you're you know you're not just any farmer. You're involved. You're involved with the Wisconsin Farm Bureau. You know? You were just at a convention, this time in Iowa. Does anyone reach out to someone like you to put input in what should be in a farm bill?

Tom Oberhaus: Yeah. From time to time people ask, you know, "What's really critical to you in your operation?" I have very, very limited hope that we're going to get a farm bill passed. I mean, as you know, Congress is split in two different directions. And if one guy says, "The sky is blue," the other guy says, "No, it isn't." And it's a very split time, and we need people to work together to get some things like that done. I'm sorry to say I don't have much hope for that.

Sam Woods: That is the first time I've heard you express that you don't have hope or optimism, Tom. This must be serious.

Tom Oberhaus: The farm bill thing is. It's a mess because we have people, like I say, nobody can agree on anything. And so then nothing happens.

Sam Woods: This last question is less of a question and more of an opportunity to have the final word. So you've been gracious with your time over the last year, welcoming me in once-a-season to check in. And, you know, we've been through the ups and downs of a good pumpkin season, a down Christmas tree season, heavy rains, droughts, farm bill shenanigans, capital improvements, plans and then replans. A lot's happened in this last year. So I want to give you the chance to put the cap on this and have the final word here.

Tom Oberhaus: Jeepers. First of all, I feel very blessed to be able to do what I've loved to do for the last 40-plus years. And that's true of almost everybody in farming, because there's a lot easier ways to make a living. But we do what we do because we love to do it. We love to see nature, we love to see putting that kernel on the ground and watching it grow and develop. We love to see that calf being born and thinking back to what his mother and grandmother, her mother and grandmother, looked like. That's what makes the world go 'round for us. So we farm because we love it. We all have to figure out a way to make enough dollars that we can afford to move on to the next generation. And we feel like we've got a plan here that is working for that. So I guess just feeling very blessed with the opportunity that I've had over the last 40-plus years.

Sam Woods: Well, Tom, I feel blessed that you've let me into your doors, so to speak, for a whole year. I appreciate all of that and I appreciate your time today.

Tom Oberhaus: You're very welcome. We love what we do, and we love to share what we do, because we think people need to understand where their food comes from. It doesn't just show up on the grocery store.

Joy Powers: Tom Oberhaus is the co-operator of Cozy Nook Farm in Waukesha County. He spoke with Lake Effect's Sam Woods for the final installment of our check-in series about the changing economic landscape. This reporting is part of WUWM's focused coverage on three issues our community told us they care about: climate change, immigration, and the economy. You can find more coverage on these issues at wuwm.com. Still to come, we'll learn how to spot heat stress in trees and how you can help them manage the heat. That's next on Lake Effect on 89.7 WUWM, Milwaukee's NPR. This is Lake Effect on 89.7 WUWM. I'm Joy Powers. Milwaukee has faced extreme heat waves this summer, with even nighttime temperatures staying above 70 degrees. These high temperatures have been uncomfortable for people and trees alike. Trees depend on a cycle of heating and cooling in the summer. And when temperatures stay too high, that can cause heat stress. To learn more about how to identify heat stress and manage it, I'm joined by Adam Passo, district manager for the Davey Tree Expert Company. Adam, thank you so much for being here.

Adam Passo: Thanks for having me.

Joy Powers: I think of summer as being, you know, this real high point of the year for trees. But it's also a season that presents some hazards. So let's start here. What does summer generally mean for the life cycle of a tree?

Adam Passo: Yeah, the big spring flush is over. Things are hardened off. They're just trying to create seeds for recreation. They're trying to get water in times of drought to keep on. Some root growth, not as much as fall. Tip growth is done. They're probably fighting some insects and maybe some diseases, so it's always a battle out there with trees.

Joy Powers: Sure. Now, what are some of the conditions that can be challenging for trees, especially when they're presented with the intense heat that we've been seeing?

Adam Passo: Yeah, they kind of need to shut down during the day when the sun is really intense and there's not a lot of water available to their root systems. They've got to close their cells and their leaves, the stomata, and just kind of conserve and wait for the next time. Usually early in the morning they're going to have some dew they're gonna be able capitalize on. They open their stomata when it gets dark and it's not so hot and they can respirate a little bit. So every time of the day there's something new going on. But some trees are better than others, you know. There's trees that are used to being next to rivers and lowland areas. They get planted up high next to houses, and that's not what they like. So they're gonna have a rougher time than, say, like a pine planted on the top of a hill. A pine and a spruce, they like drier conditions, so they're really thriving this time of the year, you know? Whereas a river birch, if you go around, see a river birch, its interior leaves are turning yellow right now, and it's just trying to, you know... Those leaves that weren't pulling their weight, you know, it's like a business. Those ones that aren't producing, they get fired and they fall off. So every tree is different. If it's planted in the right spot, it's going to do really well. If its planted in a borderline spot, it's got some challenges ahead of it.

Joy Powers: How can you tell if you have a tree that might be heat stressed?

Adam Passo: Yeah, there's some really obvious ones. The leaves get pretty droopy. They just look flatter than normal. They don't look, you know, puffed up and happy. And like dogwoods are a perfect example of that. Right after a rain, they're really happy and kind of pointing upwards. And then when it's hot and less water, they're pointed straight down. Looks real sad. But it just takes the smallest amount of water in those kind of sensitive plants, and they'll perk right up, and it's perfectly natural.

Joy Powers: So if you see that your tree is a little off, probably a little heat stressed, is watering it, you know, maybe once a day, once a week, is that going to help?

Adam Passo: Yeah, yeah. Two times a week is usually sufficient. A nice deep root watering is really fantastic. You know, a lot of people put the hose by the trunk thinking that it's going right to the plant. But that's the least absorbent roots on the tree. So if you move that watering hose out to the drip line, which is the very edge of the leaves of the tree, that's where all the absorbent roots are really the best. I always preach to have nice mulch to conserve moisture, keep the roots cool. A shredded hardwood bark is phenomenal. Breaks down, adds nutrients to the tree, unlike the ground up pallets that kind of take nitrogen to break down and they take away from the tree. Those colored mulches that are, you know, just wood pieces, some of those dyes can be a little harsh. So anytime you can go natural with your mulch, that's great, and it'll help the tree a lot. Anything that we can do to keep those fibrous roots happy and healthy. Watering twice a week, 15 minutes in one spot, let it kind of soak down in there, move to the next spot, soak down. In reality, you want about an inch for most tree varieties a week. So if you have a pie tin or something and there's a big rain, if you get an inch, don't need to water it that week. But if you don't get anything in there, you're going to need to supplement.

Joy Powers: Yeah. Now, if you have a tree that you're really concerned about, maybe you're seeing some of these signs of heat stress, you're seeing that it's not doing quite too well, when should you consult a professional, I guess? When is the point at which maybe they need to seek some real help?

Adam Passo: Yeah. Preventative is always the best thing. You know, somebody who cares about their trees and they want to keep them nice probably should just have an arborist that comes by once a year, takes a look at things. If you're seeing big dead branches, that's probably a little too late, you know? Thinning canopies is what we're seeing a lot of right now. That might be due to a number of but a lot of times it's human-caused. Planting too deep is the biggest thing that I see in urban environments. Trees that weren't planted high enough, the hole was dug too deep, and then they start off life kind of at a deficit. And roots grow up, they grow around the trunk, and they kind of start choking it off as it grows in diameter. So yeah, if you're gonna plant a tree, please do. But look at those instructions, and make sure you're not planting it too deep. You're really going to see issues 10, 15 years down the road. At first it'll be fine. A little preventative maintenance goes a long ways.

Joy Powers: Well, Adam, thank you so much for joining us here on Lake Effect.

Adam Passo: Yeah, thanks for having me.

Joy Powers: Adam Passo is the district manager for the Davey Tree Expert Company. And that wraps up today's show. I'm Joy Powers. If you missed any of Lake Effect this week, you can find all of our conversations at www.wuwm.com. If you'd like to take the show on the go, you download the Lake Effect podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks so much for joining us right here on listener-supported 89.7 WUWM. Milwaukee's NPR.