Sigurd F. Olson titled his fifth book Open Horizons, and in the book’s introduction, he writes that what “a man finally becomes, how he adjusts himself to this world, is a composite of all the horizons he has explored, for they have marked him and left indelible imprints on his attitude and convictions and given…
“Late-season loon rescued from icy trap,” reads the headline on page five of the November 30, 1979 issue of the Ashland Daily Press. Framed by photos of the loon rescue and ads for Ungrout Hardware and Meyer’s Walgreen Agency, the Daily Press article describes how Rick Newton and Gary Cholwek from Wisconsin Project Loon Watch…
In 1975, a small, eight-page pamphlet was produced that is described on its cover as “a publication of Northland: A Liberal Arts – Environmental College.” Titled Sigurd Olson Writes about Northland College, the origin of this pamphlet can be traced back to the 1973 summer meeting of the Northland College Board of Trustees. At this…
By the spring of 1973, the Sigurd Olson Institute of Environmental Studies, still less than a year old, was humming with activity. Three Johnson Lectures had been delivered. A pilot environmental education program had been established with schools in nearby Drummond and Cable, Wisconsin. The largest government grant in the College’s history had been secured…
Sam Johnson was an early supporter of environmental studies at Northland College. In 1970, he provided a grant through The Johnson Wax Fund to develop an environmental studies curriculum at the College, and two years later, an additional grant and personal gift from Johnson helped to launch the Sigurd Olson Institute of Environmental Studies with…
An essential component of Bob Matteson’s vision for the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute was an advisory board. Matteson made clear that the board’s responsibilities were advisory, rather than legal, and, as he explains in his history of the Institute, he was careful to schedule meetings of the board when fall “foliage was peaking” and spring…
In its early days, what was then the Sigurd Olson Institute of Environmental Studies was based in Bobb Hall. The basement, to be specific. Co-founder and Executive Director Bob Matteson spent countless hours in this space, shepherding an advisory board and collaborating with the College’s Environmental Studies Committee.
The Northland College Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute has announced the winning 2021 books for the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award (SONWA). Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest (Alfred A. Knopf) by Suzanne Simard has been selected for the top prize in nature writing. “Rooted firmly in British Columbia,” Institute director…
“That’s an interesting idea,” said Elizabeth Olson. “Tell me more.” I was sitting at the large maple table in the living room of Sig and Elizabeth Olson, around which countless conservation campaigns and strategies had been hatched over the decades. Even with Sig gone for eight years, the table was still a centerpiece for ideas…
Fifty years ago, an administrative assistant in the president’s office at Northland College rolled a piece of paper into a typewriter, dated it “March 27, 1972” in the upper right corner, and then transcribed a letter from Malcolm McLean (president of Northland College 1971–87) to Sigurd Olson and Robert Matteson. McLean wasn’t just pen pals…
