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That’s right, Rutter Urban Forestry turned 20 this year. In honour of this milestone, we’re taking a look at where we started and what we’ve achieved while growing our urban forest here in Thunder Bay.

A look back

In 2005, we had only one truck, one trailer, two chainsaws and some climbing gear – not even one chipper. Being an arborist was a relatively new thing in those days, and Vince was the only credentialed practitioner in Thunder Bay. Back then, trees in this city were also unwittingly brutalized by tree pruners, road construction projects, lawn mowers etc. And though it still happens now, it’s to a much lesser extent thanks to the work we’ve all done to raise the standards for tree care. Some of the city’s earliest champions for policy and culture development around urban forestry include Shelley Vescio, who led the city’s Urban Forest for many years and brought in new bylaws and programs that still help us to this day.

Growing a business

We’re really, really proud of the fact that we’re still growing after 20 years. We have a positive work culture at RUF, a lot like a family – and our alumni are always a part of the picture, whether they have stayed in arboriculture or not. We’ve managed to build a very strong business that invests in training and mentoring in a collaborative way. We make time for training, for discussions on safety and we invest in good tools and equipment. We’ve grown to a team of 20 people over the past two decades, with a steady progression of innovation, certification and skill development. And with leadership from co-owners Liam and Tim, alongside Vince, RUF is experiencing more growth than ever before – which makes the next 20 years look pretty exciting.

We’re in this for the trees!

Some trees don’t live long after planting and others can live 100 years or more; if we can see an average tree lifespan of 40 years in our community, we know we’re doing well as urban foresters.  With 20 years under our belts, we’ve had the privilege of working on trees in this city through all of their life stages. Some of our favourites are those that have meaningful connections to their owners, those have survived a long time in adverse growing spaces, or just the ones that are simply old and huge. We always remember the ones we’ve nursed back to health or saved from removal, and the ones that still stand and thrive, probably for another 20 years or longer.

With this passion and a lot of outreach, we’ve raised the profile of trees and the region’s urban forests. We always assert that trees are the backbone of healthy ecosystems, and as a green company, we recycle ALL of the wood that comes from RUF operations into firewood, landscape mulch and biomass heating fuel – helping reduce carbon emissions by thousands of tonnes.

The next 20

We’re just as excited about what we can do next. We want to keep working towards sustainable growth of our employee-owned company and our urban forest. RUF is a partner to the city and the region, and we’ll continue to expand local bioenergy on projects that use wood energy instead of fossil fuels. As always, we’ll be here to help you make thoughtful decisions about how to care for your new or aging trees, and everything in between.