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51 CHAPTER 4 Sigurd Olson and Protecting Wilderness Sigurd Olson was a man of the lakes. All his life, he was inspired, even obsessed, with lake wilderness, and he often reflected on this obsession. Familiar characters in his narrative range from the French-Canadian voyageurs (he took pride in the honorific title “bourgeois” [leader] given to him by his friends) to the animals, trees, rocks, lakes, rivers, and portages. He appreciated the whole network of wet places that made the wilderness accessible for voyageurs and modern visitors alike. Sigurd Olson was very attached to the canoe country, presenting it as the last wilderness before the far West or high North. Sigurd Olson and his elder colleague Ernest Oberholtzer were deeply involved in the protection of wilderness. Although their strategies differed, they agreed that the real challenge was found in the management of areas for both humans and nature. Whereas Oberholtzer was a landscape architect by education, Olson studied geology and ecology, and the difference can easily be discerned in their writings and activities. Both shared a passion for the wilderness, for exploration, for the labyrinthine waterscapes of the Quetico-Superior area, straddling the Canadian-U.S. boundary. Both worked tirelessly for the preservation of the lake wilderness, first under the leadership of Oberholtzer (prior to 1947) and later under Olson’s guidance. Although they did not use the terms “mixed-use” or “multiple land use,” they strove to find ways to meet the needs of both humans and the environment. Oberholtzer utilized plans and design in his lobby work, as part of his strategy to convince people that more was possible, that an area could be developed in many different ways, and that many activities could be accommodated without jeopardizing the character of the landscape. (Unfortunately, most of these plans have been lost or are hidden in yet-unexplored archives.) Sigurd Olson took a different approach, offering advice primarily through his writings. Sigurd Olson was a late bloomer as a writer. He wrote his first book, The SingingWilderness (1956), when he was in his late fifties, but his poetic sensibility was evident much earlier. He recorded in diaries and in early articles that both sweeping vistas and minute details in nature could capture his attention, touch him emotionally, and bring him to an understanding that these elements are all part of a larger whole. About returning to a favorite lake Olson wrote: “Then at last I was back, and as I paddled along and saw the old familiar reaches of blue, the islands riding at anchor in the distance, the gnarled old trees and lichen-covered cliffs, it seemed as though I had never been away.” This appreciation for all levels of nature came as a slow revelation, according to Open Horizons, largely an autobiography. Olson’s reflection on the construction of his cabin and the landscaping of its surroundings expresses an almost 52| Scientist, Writer, and Activist guilty awareness of his impact on the landscape. Still, he built the cabin, reusing much of an old Finnish structure used as a chicken coop at the time. Olson’s second book, Listening Point, offers, perhaps more than any of his other books, practical implications of his ideas. The poetic quality of The SingingWilderness was arguably never surpassed by Olson again. His later works like Reflections from the North Country and Of Time and Place might not always maintain the same level of prose writing, but the ideas are mature, deep, and meaningful. Olson’s philosophical reflections address real-world issues. These issues should be confronted and resolved by planners, landscape architects, and lake lovers. GETTING TO CANOE COUNTRY Sigurd Olson was born on April 4, 1899, in Chicago to Ida May and Lawrence J. Olson. Seeking freedom to practice his Baptist faith and work, Lawrence (Lars Jakob Olsson) had emigrated from the lake and mountain province of Dalarna, Sweden, at the age of nineteen . Lawrence headed to Alexandria, Minnesota, where a relative lived, and he worked as a farm hand and carpenter for a year before entering Chicago’s Morgan Park Seminary. Upon graduation, Lawrence became the fundamentalist minister of the Swedish Baptist Church of St. Cloud, Minnesota. Ida May Cederholm, a Swedish immigrant living in Brainerd, Minnesota , met Lawrence Olson when he was visiting the Brainerd lakes area, and the two were married shortly thereafter. The couple had three sons when they moved in November 1906 to Sister Bay on Wisconsin’s Door County peninsula, which extends into Lake Michigan...

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