Introducing New Board Members

Pat & Kate Lidfors Miller

Pat and Kate are old friends of the Olson family, the Foundation, the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute at Northland College, Ashland Wisconsin, and of the wilderness, who bring with them a wealth of professional experience and ability.

After taking his Masters in Wildlife ecology at Oklahoma State University, Pat embarked on a career with the National Park Service. He has served in many places and capacities as Park Naturalist at Glacier National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park; Park Ranger, Everglades National Park; Chief, Evaluation Team at Midwest Regional Office; NPS Wisconsin State Coordinator; and Superintendent, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Bayfield, Wisconsin.

Since his retirement, Pat has remained active with park projects in Alaska, the North Country Trail, The Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute Advisory Board, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is currently Site Manager, Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post in Minnesota.

Kate brings the experience of an outstanding career in historical and environmental work from Alaska to Washington, D.C. and in the upper Midwest. After completing her PhD course work in American Civilization at George Washington University, Washington, D.C., she worked on several historic preservation projects in the US and Alaska including the famous Swedish Colony at Bishop Hill and a National Register program for Alaska. Kate directed the National Park Service history program in Alaska serving 15 NPS areas, most of which were established in 1980, coordinated assistance to 43 historical and archaeological landmarks, and developed public outreach activities, among a host of other activities including work in the Aleutians.

Kate returned to the Upper Midwest in 1991 where she was appointed Executive Director of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute, Northland College, Ashland, Wisconsin. During this time, Kate provided new leadership and directed a broad spectrum of programs in environmental and wilderness education, ecological research, public education and citizen involvement.

Since then, Kate has worked with the NPS Apostle Islands National Lakeshore as Chief, Division of Resources Education; as Superintendent, Effigy Mounds National Monument, Harpers Ferry, Iowa; and as Head Northern Historic Sites Department, Minnesota Historical Society for the nine MHS sites in the northern part of the state.

With this background and these qualifications, Pat and Kate Miller bring new strength and abilities to support the Listening Point Foundation in its dual objectives of historic and natural preservation and wilderness education.

Don & Alanna Johnson

Don and Alanna are a talented husband and wife team who bring together a passion for the North, the wilderness, and the out-of-doors with professional careers in education. Alanna has trained in several US and Canadian universities and specialized in museum and library management. She is co-owner of Archival Services, which provides management and documentation services to clients, has worked at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India, the National Museum of the Morgan Horse, the American Museum of Fly Fishing, and the Penelope Nelson Collection and East West Antiques in Vermont.

Don brings the degrees and the training of a professional historian from US and Canadian Universities concentrating on the anthropology/archaeology of the Arctic, Sub Arctic, and native peoples. He has taught, published, and lectured extensively on northern themes and conducted archaeological research in Arctic history including the expeditions of Sir John Franklin and John Ross, the Billy Magee-Ernest Oberholzer canoe trip of 1912, and the Cree First Nation, Cross Lake-Manitoba Hydro controversy. He also worked as Executive Director of the National Museum of the Morgan Horse and the American Museum of Fly Fishing, as curator, writer, or historical director of several other institutions, and as a member of the Board of Directors of several non-profit organizations.

Don and Alanna are canoeists, cross country skiers, dog sledders, campers and travellers. Don has canoed and camped extensively in the Canadian far north and Alaska, is a certified scuba diver and volunteer firefighter and coaches both hockey and baseball. They are co-owners of a firm called "Arts of the North," which researches and develops products and marketing plans for products "indicative of the North and its beauty, its history, its myths and its legends."

Don and Alanna have just moved permanently to Ely to carry on their careers because, in Don's words, "... there is no place in the world we would rather be." Alanna continues to complete on-going contracts in Vermont while Don will be teaching at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, while pursuing his PhD work at the University of Manitoba at Winnipeg. Not the least, their enthusiasm, skills, and experience will be an enormous new asset for the Listening Point Foundation.

The documentary on the Franklin expedition will be appearing on the History Channel.

Jon Helminiak

Up until 1999, Jon led the conventional life of a Milwaukee area businessman as Assistant Chancellor for Development and Alumni Relations at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and before that as Director of Development, College of Letters and Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

But, with a difference. His love of action and the out of doors has led him to canoeing/kayaking/trekking expeditions in Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, the Phillipines, Central America, Scandinavia and Nepal. One of Jon's particular requirements for his students on canoe trips in the BWCAW was that they read Sigurd Olson's Lonely Land about his 1955 expedition down the Churchill in Saskatchewan. (See cover.)

Jon is an instrument-rated pilot with 1300 hours of logged flying time, a certified open water scuba diver, a professional photographer and sky diver. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a year at the University of London, and a member of the Wisconsin rowing team that won the National NAAA championships in 1976.

Jon represented the United States at the international YMCA conference in Thessalonika, Greece, went to the Soviet Union on a student exchange, attended the Outdoor Leadership School in Mexico, and led high adventure programs in Germany, Austria and Sweden. As Director of Development at UW-Madison, he was appointed the first Director of Asian Development and met with business and government leaders in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Singapore to create a university program for Asian Development.

However, in 1999, Jon struck out on his own and gave up conventional life to start his own business as President of Solstice Resource Development of Mequon, Wisconsin, specializing in resource development for non-profit organizations. He has since branched out in interesting ways, as a Director of the Listening Point Foundation and a promoter of the Lewis and Clark expedition bicentennial in 2004, for example.

Jon brings to the Board an understanding and personal belief in the purpose of the Foundation, a personal style of creative development, a generous personality, years of marketing and public relations experience, a record of working locally and thinking globally that perfectly fits the LPF outlook, plus 14 years administrative experience at the director level and seven years as Chief Executive.