“We see monarch larva and things like that, and you just see the glow that kids get.”

The Urban Ecology Center at Riverside Park is a nature-filled oasis in the upper east side of Milwaukee. Zach Schnick is senior director of the Urban Ecology Center.

Jack Laude: How long have you been involved with this place?

Zac Schnick: My first day in Milwaukee, when I was apartment shopping just like a block away, it was pouring rain, and we came in here to get out of the rain. Immediately the culture sucked me in, and I was volunteering and dropping in to do activities. I’ve worked here for about four years. I started off helping get their HR department started and then transitioned this last year into the branch director role.

Jack Laude: If you could have one aspect of this place that is your favorite, what would that be?

Zac Schnick: I really think my favorite aspect of this place is the proximity to the park. It really feels like we are the gateway to Riverside Park. So, people who are experiencing this type of nature for the first time, we’re the people who guide you into that. People stop in here and first ask questions. Getting people out in nature, answering their questions, making them feel safe and welcome and excited about being outside is what this place is about. It’s definitely my favorite aspect of working here.

Jack Laude: Is this your first time being involved with Doors Open Milwaukee? Have you been involved before?

Zac Schnick: We’ve been involved for about eight years. This is my first time at the Urban Ecology Center for Doors Open day. I previously worked for Colectivo Coffee and used to lead tours for Doors Open Milwaukee at the roastery across the river. That was always a great time.

Jack Laude: So far, seeing people come in, how has that experience been?

Zac Schnick: It’s been great. We have seen so many people coming through. It really feels like we are fully past pandemic times. It really feels like this year it has taken back off, and there are lots of people around today. The gorgeous weather doesn’t hurt that either.

Jack Laude: What is more background on this building? What purpose does it have in this community?

Zac Schnick: We have a lot of different purposes as an organization. This building is really cool because it represents the growth of the Urban Ecology Center as an organization. We started 25 years ago in a little trailer here in Riverside Park, and this is the first building that we ever built being an organization so focused on environmentalism and sustainability. This building is loaded with a lot of super cool and unique sustainability features. We have got a lot of fact sheets kind of around the building that you can see highlighting things like our rain collector system, our water recycling, our solar usage and a lot of other state of the art things that when we built this building 20 years ago, nobody else in the city was doing.

Jack Laude: How far has this place come in spreading its message about the environment and sustainability as well as educating people about nature?

Zac Schnick: I think we have done a really good job at getting involved with kids while they’re young. We primarily work with Milwaukee Public School field trips during the day. For a lot of people in the city, the Urban Ecology Center and Riverside Park is their first experience getting out into a more wilderness-like place. I think we’ve done a really good job of helping that lesson, safety, understanding and care for nature to be informative for a lot of kids in Milwaukee.

Jack Laude: How important do you think it is for those kids to get some taste of nature early on? What do you think that can do for them?

Zac Schnick: I think it is really inspiring. I think when people care about nature and when they see how much other people care about nature, it inspires them to take more care of their community. Also, it inspires them to work with other people. You see that in the awe the kids have for animals and for the cool things. We see monarch larva and things like that, and you just see the glow that kids get. I think we have done a really good job of making that a bigger future of the city and the kids around here.