Listening Point Board of Directors

Special People:

Sigurd T. Olson, Douglas, Alaska

Sig Olson of Douglas, Alaska would not disappoint anyone who was looking for a competent outdoorsman, a trained naturalist, an all around decent fellow, and a friend. Sig was born to the wilderness in northern Minnesota, the eldest son of Sig and Elizabeth. The wilderness was not a remote place to dream about but right there out his back door where he grew up and played in the forests, lakes, and streams of the northwoods. He took up guiding in his teens as part of the family way of life.

The long winters made Sig and his Ely friends into avid skiers, both jumping and cross country, a sport to which Sig is still devoted. When the war came along, Sig volunteered for the ski troops of the 10th Mountain Division. In 1945, the Division pushed the German forces out of Italy in a hard-fought campaign in which Sig was awarded the Silver Star Medal for exceptional bravery in battle.

After the war, Sig and his wife Esther (Tjader) moved to the University of Minnesota where Sig earned an M.S. in wildlife management for his ground-breaking study on the, till then, scientifically overlooked loon. His career took them to Alaska where he worked to help develop the wildlife program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Later, he worked on the Alaskan Planning Team for the U.S. Forest Service, providing expertise on fish and wildlife resources on new National Forest proposals under the auspices of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

During these years, Sig has had many adventures and covered Alaska from Ketchikan to Kotzebue, from the Arctic to the Pacific oceans. He and Esther finally settled in Douglas across the channel from Juneau with a view most people would die for, and where he now lives in retirement. No couch potato, retirement for Sig means downhill and cross country skiing every day in winter, fishing, sailing, hunting, hiking and rollerblading summers, community service, watching over his growing tribe of sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, visits to friends and family in the lower forty eight, and supporting the Listening Point Foundation with vision and generosity as a member of the Board of Directors.

When it comes to wilderness values, Sig is probably unique. Not only is he intimately familiar with the philosophical and spiritual dimension, but he has had a professional career with the economic, political, and aesthetic aspects, and a lifetime of hands-on experience with just living with, enjoying, and surviving in the real wilderness of bounty, beauty and unforgiving rules.