Forest byproducts missed opportunity: arborist

By Sandi Krasowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal 

An arborist and forester is noticing the growing risks resulting from the changing climate, drought and insect infestation and their impact on forest conditions.

Vince Rutter, owner of Rutter Urban Forestry, said Thunder Bay sits in the middle of a forest and climate change is causing forests to react differently.

“Forest fires are a higher risk,” he said. “Spruce budworm is here and will annihilate hundreds of thousands of balsam fir trees over the next three years, which will make forest fire conditions more intense and we don’t have a plan or good economic solutions to deal with that. Biomass for energy is a big part of how we solve that. But we’re behind on making that accessible immediately.”

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