Join the Listening Point Foundation and the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute for a virtual launch event for
A Private Wilderness: The Journals of Sigurd F. Olson with editor David Backes on Tuesday, June 1 at 7:00 PM CT. There will be an in-depth presentation and moderated conversation with Backes about the history and inspiration surrounding the book from inception to publication, as well as a Q&A session with the audience.
Register for the free event here.
Written mostly during the years from 1930 to 1941, Sigurd F. Olson’s journals describe the dreams and frustrations of an aspiring writer honing his skills, pursuing recognition, and facing doubt. Author of Olson’s definitive biography, editor David Backes brings a deep knowledge of the writer to these journals, providing critical context, commentary, and insights along the way.
Thirteen years after that fateful canoe trip, then-U.S. Sen. Mondale and Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson worked to have the St. Croix River designated as one of the nation’s first Wild and Scenic Rivers. The stretch from Taylors Falls, Minnesota, to Prescott, Wisconsin, was added in 1972.
Today, there are 226 Wild and Scenic Rivers - a designation given to only one-half of 1 percent of the nation’s rivers.
Mondale, who died earlier this month at the age of 93 at his home in Minneapolis, called the St. Croix a “national treasure” and considered his work to preserve it among his proudest political accomplishments, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.
Mondale s favorite place on Earth was St Croix River sfgate.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sfgate.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A Timeline of Environmental History and Activism in Minnesota
When the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency approved the final permit for Canadian oil giant Enbridgeâs $2.6 billion Line 3 pipeline project, environmental activists led by the Giniw Collective immediately chained themselves to trees near the construction site, hoping to somehow delay or even halt the projectâagain. It was the latest altercation in a more than century-long struggle thatâs come to define Minnesotaâs very nature.
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Images courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society (St. Anthony Falls, Lake Itasca, Superior forest, gibbs, cloquet, olson); from shutterstock: nikitsin.smugmug.com (Minnehaha falls); Jiang Hongyan (logs); Drakuliren (moose); Suriya KK (grass); Tracy Kerestesh (bison); IhorL (oil); Taras Hipp (snowmobile); Wildnerdpix (BWCA)