Hot commodity: NRRI innovation featured at new Bell Museum

A Northland innovation is gaining some recognition with its placement on the new Bell Museum of Natural History in St. Paul.

No, not in the museum. On it.

Thermally-modified white pine will cover 21,000 square feet of the museum when it opens in summer 2018, and some of the wonder-wood siding started going up last week.

"Not only are these resources Minnesota's, but the innovation and discovery that makes this more sustainable, more environmentally friendly form of wood siding — that comes out of the Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota Duluth," said George Weiblen, interim scientific director and curator of plants at the Bell Museum. "The building is reflecting Minnesota nature through this lens of science and technology."

The NRRI's pioneering work in thermally-treated wood attracted the attention of a top Twin Cities architect, which decided to specify the product for the museum, giving the wood its biggest use yet.

To view the full article, visit: The Duluth News Tribune