TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2025
Keynote Address - “Keep Trees Weird – Curiosity & Innovation in Arboriculture.” Dr. Matt Ritter
Dr. Ritter will explore patterns and trends in tree selection, offering guidance on fostering healthy urban forests in the Pacific Northwest amid climate change and declining biodiversity. What factors should guide species selection for new tree plantings? Considerations include carbon sequestration, aesthetics, water use, provenance, and cultural significance. He will address the potential of climate modeling to predict how underutilized urban tree species may perform under rising temperatures and variable precipitation. Dr. Ritter will also highlight the expansion of the web-based tree selection tool, SelecTree (selectree.calpoly.edu), to the Pacific Northwest, introducing new species suited for the region’s urban forests. Additionally, he will emphasize the vital role nurseries play in bringing new species into the urban landscape.
Bio: Dr. Matt Ritter is an internationally recognized urban forestry expert, decorated professor, and teacher. He has spent two decades studying trees and has written several award winning books, and many scientific articles. He is a botany professor in the Biological Sciences Department at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California.
