January 1955 (age 55)

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports on January 6 that Sigurd is being considered for the job of state conservation commissioner. On January 23 a friend writes to Sigurd, "Your hat is pretty definitely in the ring so far as the conservation commissioner's post is concerned. He [Governor Orville Freeman] told me he has received a lot of mail urging your appointment in addition to men who have personally contacted him regarding your appointment." Sigurd responds that he is far too busy working on Quetico-Superior wilderness issues and on that national conservation scene and "could not possibly accept."

Meanwhile, Sigurd receives the news he was waiting for: Alfred Knopf wants to publish his book. "I don't know how much success we will have with such a book," Knopf wrote on January 6, "but I am happy to have it on our list." Sigurd's agent, Marie Rodell, worked out the details. Knopf wanted Sigurd to change the title and the accompanying "pipes of pan" theme in the introduction, to regroup the essays and to write half a dozen or so additional essays. He agreed with Sigurd's request to use Francis Lee Jaques as the book's illustrator, but the cost of the black-and-white sketches--which would receive praise in the years ahead--was to come out of Sigurd's royalties. Rodell later convinced the publisher to split the illustration costs if the book sold eight thousand copies in the United States.

January 1970 (age 70)

Several letters between Sigurd and his agent, Marie Rodell, this month display Sigurd's relatively unsophisticated understanding about public relations and lack of concern about his image, and the protectiveness and concern of those close to him, such as Rodell. Sigurd was in favor of allowing his essays to be used on calendars made by Brown and Bigelow, Inc., and used as marketing tools by chemical companies, nuclear power companies, and others. Sigurd wrote on January 5:

It seems to me that if these companies are willing to buy these calendars even though the text might be in direct violation of the products they sell, isn't that exactly the purpose of the whole conservation program. We are not trying to convert those who are against pollution in its many evil forms, but rather those who are still polluting the air, the soil, or the waters.

On January 7, Rodell fired back:

The point of the issue, Sigurd, is whether you, who have all your life fought for conservation and against the destruction of the environment, can help to sell products which destroy that environment. Because that is what your copy will be doing: advertising is a sales tool. Use of your signed copy to help sell a product is a tacit endorsement of the product; at the very least, it is no disagreement with it....The point is not that the text would be "critical of their program of power generation," as you put it. It's not their reputation that's at stake it's yours. They have everything to gain: "Why there's nothing wrong with our pesticides or our nuclear plants after all, the well known conservationist Sigurd Olson is writing promotion copy for us."....I must fight to keep you from putting yourself in that position.

She won. On January 10, Sigurd wrote back sheepishly:

You are absolutely right....I had not thought of it that way or I would not have raised the issue. I can see Rachel [Carson, who also had Rodell as her agent] smiling shyly. You will not have to fight any more as far as I am concerned.