In addition to running Big Boys Landscape & Snow Services LLC, Owner Ryan Jahner (right) is a key member of organ procurement missions, piloting a plane that transports surgical teams and organs to help save lives.

The company’s tree removal services help mitigate any further damage from a fallen storm-damaged tree to surrounding homes and structures.

Ryan Jahner owns and manages Big Boys Landscape & Snow Services LLC (Big Boys), a commercial and residential landscaping and maintenance company based in Seymour, Wisconsin. Big Boys operates in all seasons, serving customers in the Green Bay area and northeastern Wisconsin since 2007.

“We’re busy with some standard and some challenging landscaping jobs for several months and then we switch and do some heavy snow removal jobs for the other months,” Jahner says. “We work year-round.”

Big Boys specializes in lawn care, land and lot clearing, hardscapes and softscapes, tree removal, snow removal and shoreline improvements. Jahner is proud to say that, even with the many offered services, the company provides free estimates, 24/7 emergency response and, in some cases, appointment scheduling for the same day the customer makes the call.

Ground-up Experience

Jahner built the company from the ground up, taking the time to do it right. He entered the field before college, driving equipment first during the harvest season on a farm in South Dakota and next for construction companies. Then, he got into snow-plowing services and soon realized his equipment could be used in landscaping throughout the rest of the non-snowy months of the year, too.

Today, Jahner’s crew numbers 14. “Originally, my employees were ‘big boys,’ and that’s where the company name came from,” he says.

The Big Boys crew delivers on Jahner’s commitment to provide five-star service—and that includes the policy of continuing to work with a customer if he or she is not happy with the results.

“We come back and get it done right,” he says.

He recalls one job that required extensive grading of a resident’s backyard to ensure that the leveling was right, especially in between the house and a neighbor’s house where rainwater tended to collect. His crew brought in 40 yards of dirt to complete the necessary grading, but then the resident sent him a photo of her feet in standing water.

The crew returned and rectified the problem by working on a 2-foot by 1-foot section with hand shovels. It was precision work that made the difference. “That’s how close of a grade we had to do,” he says.

His favorite assignment is shoreline work. Repairing or creating a strong shoreline initially required that he do a lot of research to determine the right materials and equipment.

“Once you do one, you can do them all,” he says. To date, Big Boys has successfully completed thousands of feet of shoreline.

Most of these projects require the addition of a retaining wall with stone hardscape, but he also plans to become more proficient in riprap shoreline restoration and construction through work with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Riprap involves placing rock or other materials in a way that will protect shoreline structures against erosion. Riprap requires meticulous effort and becomes even more complex near bridge abutments and other concrete foundations.

Wide Array of Services

Big Boys offers a long list of services so that any homeowner, property owner, developer or property manager can have their needs met. Lawn care work includes reseeding or installing a new lawn, fertilization, aerating and spraying lawns to kill weeds.

The property surrounding a home can be the envy of neighbors with other services. Softscape options include mulching and planting flowerbeds, plants and trees. The Big Boys team can also add better form and function to home property by adding hardscape amenities like patios and retaining walls.

Sometimes, land needs to be cleared or difficulties on property need to be rectified. Jahner’s company does land and lot clearing with tasks ranging from tree and brush clearing and stump removal to improving topsoil, filling low levels or adding gravel sections.

The crew recently removed a large tree for Outagamie County that had rotted in the center. The tree— 16 feet in diameter—had rotted out and posed problems since it sat next to power lines on one side and a creek on the other. In inclement weather, Big Boys continues aiding its customers who can be inundated by heavy snows that can shut down movement and business operation. Jahner’s team offers snow removal for homeowners, townhome associations, and apartment and commercial properties.

More than One Passion

While Jahner enjoys keeping Big Boys successful, he also finds time for his other passion—flying. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautics with a major in commercial aviation from the University of North Dakota. Today, he flies a Beechcraft King Air 350i for WAK Aviation, shuttling executives on business trips or transporting vital organs to save people’s lives.

At least once a week, he enters the cockpit to begin another deadline-driven organ procurement mission. “The call can come anytime of the day or night,” he says. “Organs and tissues can only be artificially supported outside a body for a short time, so minutes count. They call me up at 2 a.m. or whatever. I pick up the team of doctors and nurses and fly them to pick up the organ and then fly to the destination for the transplant,” he says.

A trip—always requiring emergency response—can take many hours and can begin or end anywhere in the nation, he adds.

When an organ is removed from the donor, it is placed in an icy cold solution or hooked up to support technology to keep it alive. Hearts and lungs have only six hours before possible failure; livers are viable for up to 24 hours. The health of a transported kidney decreases every minute until it is surgically implanted. Jahner’s cargo could potentially be organs such as kidneys, liver, lungs, heart, pancreas or intestines. Vital tissues are also transported, such as corneas, heart valves, bone, veins, tendons, ligaments and even skin itself.

A recent mission took 14 hours. At about 6 p.m. the first day, Jahner entered the runway with a team of surgical doctors and nurses from Madison, Wisconsin, on board. They flew to Kansas City, Missouri, to remove a working kidney from the donor’s body. The return trip, ending at about 8 a.m. the next day, resulted in the team going back into action to successfully replant the kidney into the recipient.

Jahner encourages everyone to become an organ donor by signing up at a state driver license office or online at www.organdonor.gov.

Multiple Missions

While Jahner’s greatest passion is for his work with the National Organ Recovery Transport Alliance, he also makes sure to serve his local community. For example, the Big Boys team staffs the concession stands at the local softball and soccer fields where their sales of popcorn, sodas, candy and more provide income to support the local youth sports programs.

The commitment to serve, to meet needs of a community, is a core value for Jahner and his company. Every personal and professional opportunity is rewarding—whether it’s removing a tree that has fallen on a house after a storm, providing a bottle of water to a thirsty sports spectator or giving a person with a failing organ a second chance at life.

“It shows the type of person he is,” says Nicole Melotte, Business Development Consultant for The Blue Book Network who serves Big Boys Landscape & Snow Services. “He truly is a hero.”