User:BlueCanoe/SFO

Sigurd F. Olson (April 4, 1899 - January 13, 1982) was an American author, ecologist, environmentalist, and advocate for the protection of wilderness. Olson best known for writing about the natural history, ecology, and outdoor life in and around the Quetico - Superior wilderness of western Ontario and northern Minnesota. He was also a leading proponent of the protection and expansion of the U.S. National Park system. Olson remains the only person ever to have received the highest honor from the Izaak Walton League, the National Wildlife Federation, the Wilderness Society, and the Sierra Club.

Biography

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Sigurd Olson grew up on a farm in northern Wisconsin where he developed his life-long interest in the outdoors. After studying agriculture, botany, geology, and ecology at Northland College, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Illinois, he moved to the small northern Minnesota town of Ely. Olson began teaching biology at the local Junior College in 1926 and acted as dean from 1936 to 1947. Olson also worked as a canoe guide during the summer months, becoming a part-owner a canoe outfitter.

The 1950s saw Sig Olson's prominence in national conservation efforts increase, as he became involved with the international commission working on protecting large tracts of wilderness lakes and forests on either side of the Minnesota-Ontario border. He took the title of Wilderness Ecologist for the Izaak Walton League, and soon joined the board of the National Parks Conservation Association. During this time, Olson spent much of his time either in Washington, D.C. or traveling to speak to conservation groups or to tour national parks or other areas being considered for protection.

With the passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964, wilderness advocates such as Olson saw their efforts rewarded. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area became protected as a legally-defined wilderness area and remains so today.

The pinnacles of his advocacy career came as president of the National Parks Conservation Association from 1953 to 1959, and president of the Wilderness Society from 1968 to 1971.
He also helped establish Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota.
a "John Muir of the north woods"
contemporary of David Brower, Aldo Leopold
Friend of U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

Environmental philosophy

Sigurd Olson preferred the term conservationist over environmentalist, probably both from his classical training in ecology as well as his belief in the importance of balance between wilderness and modern civilization.

He was often criticized in his wilderness advocacy roles by both opponents and proponents for being too much of an extremist, when in reality he was guilty only of favoring realistic compromises over ideological rigidity.
belief in civilization's & individual's need for wilderness, healing power of wild, natural places; "biological memory" of living in the wild
Connection between God and wilderness, conservation as moral imperative

Books

The Singing Wilderness (1956)
Listening Point (1958)
The Lonely Land (1961)
Runes of the North (1963)
Open Horizons (1969)
The Hidden Forest (1969)
Wilderness Days (1972)
Reflections From the North Country (1976)
Of Time and Place (1982)
Songs of the North. Howard Frank Mosher, ed. (1987)
The Collected Works of Sigurd F. Olson: The Early Writings, 1921-1934. Mike Link, ed. (1988)
The Collected Works of Sigurd F. Olson: The College Years, 1935-1944. Mike Link, ed. (1990)
The Meaning of Wilderness: Essential Articles and Speeches. Edited and with an Introduction by David Backes. (2001)
Spirit of the North: The Quotable Sigurd F. Olson. Edited and with an Introduction by David Backes. (2004)

References

A Wilderness Within: The Life of Sigurd F. Olson, by David Backes. University of Minnesota Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8166-2842-4

External links

The Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute at Northland College
Sigurd Olson website at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Sigurd Olson at the Minnesota Historical Society's Author Biography Project