Joe Hansen is the Village Forester/Tree
Preservation Officer for the Village of Wilmette,
Illinois; the Municipal Director for the Illinois
Arborist Association; a Task Specialist on the
Illinois Urban Forest Strike Team; a member
of the Illinois Forestry Development Council;
and he does public speaking, like at the ISA
International Conference in Albuquerque later
this year. Somehow he finds time to host and
produce The Municipal Arborist Podcast since
it began in April, 2021. The podcast's tag line
is, "Conversations on arboriculture, the tree
care industry, and all things tree related as told
through the perspective of a municipal arborist."
Listeners may notice that the podcast has a very
even sound quality—something that can be chal-
lenging to achieve in podcasting. That was one
of Joe's early goals. For the last 23 years, he has
played guitar and drums and has a semi-pro-
fessional home studio with decent gear and
sound treatment in the room. "I only record in
person with broadcast industry standard micro-
phones to ensure the best quality audio that I can
achieve," he says. "Some of the episodes where
I record at conferences in hotel rooms are not
quite as good, but the quality is still up there."
Joe says that he had often thought about starting
a podcast about his hobbies, like music recording,
guitar pedals, or upland hunting—but he found
that those podcasts themes were already out
there. "Then it struck me that I love hanging out
with my friends and peers at conferences or after
urban-forestry.com 33
The Municipal Arborist
Joe Hansen
The Municipal Arborist podcast host Joe Hansen is a
musician with recording experience, so podcast setup
was a breeze for him. Joe is the Village Forester/Tree
Preservation Officer for the Village of Wilmette, Illinois.
