Review of Sigurd F. Olson's Three Major Works

摘要

Sigurd F. Olson (1899–1982) was a conservationist and authornwho wielded his considerable writing skills to protectnwilderness. He taught and was later a dean at Ely JuniornCollege (now Vermillion Community College) and alsonserved as president or vice president for some of the largest conservationnorganizations in the United States (Backes, n.d.). Much of Olson’sninfluence during the early years of national wilderness policynresulted from his ability to empathically share his experiences spent asnguide or traveler in the Quetico-Superior in what is now known as thenBoundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in the United States andnQuetico Provincial Park in Canada. His writings are noteworthy notnonly for their ability to welcome the reader into the essence of wildnplaces, for they do so admirably, but also for their introspective depth.nThree of Olson’s books specifically demonstrate his personal developmentnof moral reasoning from conventional to postconventionalnstages and comprise an ersatz magnum opus of his life in thenQuetico-Superior: (1) The Singing Wilderness (1956), (2) ListeningnPoint, and (3) Reflections from the North Country (1976). Each volumenin this trifecta offers an increasingly mature attitude toward thenimportance of the preservation of nature. However, the commonnthread across the trilogy is Olson’s primary concern with the protectionnof wilderness. As defined by the Wilderness Act of 1964,