BUILDING ON A HALF CENTURY OF ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP
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“You’ve got to CARRY ON the battle to PRESERVE such beautiful places as this. The battle goes on endlessly. It’s YOUR TASK—you’ve got to see that you keep the FLAME ALIVE…The whole world depends upon you.”-Sigurd Olson
Since 1972, the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute (SOEI) has championed environmental stewardship of the Lake Superior region as a program of Northland College. Over this period, it has tackled threatening trends and ill-conceived proposals from acid rain and radioactive waste disposal to mining in the Penokee Hills and habitat destruction. It has sought to promote environmental stewardship through educational outreach, citizen science, testimony on issues, publications, and workshops to build public understanding. For example:
Guided by the philosophy of writer and conservationist Sigurd F. Olson, we will continue our mission and vision of advocacy and education to preserve, restore and enhance the waters and wildlife of the Lake Superior region, and to promote a sense of wonder for our incredible natural world through the arts and personal experiences. Please help us keep the flame alive by:
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Our Recent WorkWe incorporated, elected a Board of Directors, and wrote bylaws.
Celebrated 2025 Wolf Awareness Week
Supporting the 2026 Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award
Our Future PlansAs we move forward, we will be developing additional programs. Our mission is to prepare people to meet the challenges of the future with intellectual and artistic creativity by promoting and protecting experiences of wildness and wonder.
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LoonWatch
“Above came a swift whisper of wings, and as the loons saw us they called wildly ..and took their laughing into the gathering dusk…this was the symbol of the lake country, the sound that more than any other typifies the rocks and waters and forests of the wilderness.” Listening Point Founded in 1976 to preserve common loons and their habitats in Wisconsin, LoonWatch is one of the oldest citizen science projects in the state. LoonWatch volunteers and staff conduct annual monitoring of loon nesting on around 500 lakes, state-wide loon population surveys, and education programs to help people live in harmony with this iconic symbol of the Northwoods. LoonWatch is the only conservation program in Wisconsin focused on this sentinel species for lake health. Learn more. 
Conservation Policy Outreach
“Conservation and good citizenship go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other.” Gopher Historian, 1953 The Institute has a long history of programs, workshops, and outreach activities to assist with policies and leadership around environmental protection and restoration in the Lake Superior region. Phrased as “thoughtful advocacy”, some past efforts include coordinating the U.S. side of the Lake Superior Bi-National Program, numerous Matteson Problem Solving Workshops, and periodic conferences such as the Midwest Wolf Stewards and North American Loon Symposiums. |
Timber Wolf Alliance
“At last I caught what I was listening for- the long-drawn quavering howl from over the hills, a sound as wild and indigenous to the north as the muskegs or the northern lights. That was wilderness music, something as free and untamed as there is on this earth.” The Singing Wilderness TWA was created in 1987 to provide education about gray wolf recovery in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Historically extirpated from the two states due to unregulated hunting and trapping, and bounty payments. In 1974 wolves we listed as a federal endangered species, and soon were also protected as state endangered species. Under the Endangered Species Act protections, wolf populations in Minnesota began to expand. Breeding packs were detected in Wisconsin in the mid-1970s, and Upper Michigan in the late 1980s. Since its founding, TWA has provided science-based education, assisted agencies through citizen science and encouraged public policy to help wolves and human co-exist in the region. While wolf populations have mostly recovered within this region, the sharing of sound objective information continues to be critical to promoting coexistence of wolves and humans in the Lake Superior region. Learn more. 
Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Awards
“Black and white is my canvas, words my pigments, interpretation of the wild my theme.” Journal mid-1930’s Since 1992, and in the spirit of celebrating Sigurd's literary legacy, the Institute has recognized remarkable environmental adult literature that attempts to capture the spirit of the human relationship with the natural world, and promotes the values that preserve or restore the land for future generations. In 2004 the writing awards were expanded to honor children’s books as well.Learn more. 
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