Outdoor School for All — Part II
Wolf Ridge ELC has had an amazing first half century. I served as executive director for the first 30 and was closely involved with all aspects of growth during that time. The next 25 years, following a few years focused primarily on maintaining school participation, was followed 15 years of additional growth and development which firmly established Wolf Ridge as both a national and international leader of residential environmental education. That 15 years of growth occurred while Pete Smerud served as Executive Director and President.
While my role during the first 30 years can be found in Wolf Ridge history, the reason I’m doing this is to very briefly summarize my contributions. History, often, tends to be overshadowed by all that follows.
The following four descriptors, concerning my efforts, are evidence based, without which Wolf Ridge would not exist.
- articulated and grew the vision of outdoor-school-for-all Minnesota learners from concept in 1970 to reality at Isabella from 1971 till 1988 and Wolf Ridge from 1988 until the present.
- authored the program component of the successful request to secure public funding to utilize the former Isabella Job Corp Camp for residential environmental education, and was responsible for increasing the annual Isabella school attendance to beyond capacity by 1987
- Ied the 18-year effort to secure funding and support to enable the acquisition of raw land (2000 acres) and campus construction thereon enabling the 1988 move from the leased Isabella Job Corp camp to Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center overlooking Lake Superior near Finland.
- proposed and provided leadership to Project Earthsense, a cooperative $25,000,000 effort to enable a network of five residential centers to be recognized as special function schools with the capacity to enable all of Minnesota’s elementary students to experience outdoor school, begun in 1991 and completed in 2000.
While I did initiate each of the four, they would not have been accomplished without the support and effort of an ever-increasing number of people that helped to build the vision of Wolf Ridge. When I retired in 2000 Wolf Ridge was firmly established as possibly the leading facility of its kind in the country.
Pete Smerud served as Executive Director and President from 2011 until 2026. He provided leadership for the following, considerably increasing Wolf Ridges national and international standing. Peter also benefited from an ever-growing base of support.
- managed a full school year without program generated income due to Covid
- enabled the Wolf Ridge Organic Farm, an immersive classroom where thousands of students each year learn about crucial issues like water quality, pollinator health, and soil fertility. The food grown, harvested, and processed is served all year round to and by students in the Wolf Ridge dining room.
- In cooperation with the Nature Conservancy, permanently protected 926 acres of Wolf Ridge forests, lakes, streams and wildlife habitat
- managed design and construction of Lakeview staff house, designed to Living building certification, which annually provides housing for twenty or more graduate student naturalists
- managed design and construction of a third Maintenance shop
- represented Wolf Ridge in the successful effort to secure access to the Lake Superior field station
- Managed design and construction of the living-building-certified Mac lodge remodel effort, “Where Nature, Comfort, and Sustainability Meet”.
- Led the effort which resulted in 2025 passage of legislation supporting Outdoor-School-for-All by the Minnesota legislature.
10/23/2026
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