May 7, 2008 - The federal government has recognized Sigurd Olson's rustic cabin on Burntside Lake in northeastern Minnesota as historically significant.
June 6, 2006 - There's a piece of paradise in northeastern Minnesota. It's called the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA). Admirers credit the book "The Singing Wilderness," published in 1956, as part of the inspiration for creating the wilderness area; and they credit author Sigurd Olson for putting into words the reasons humans need wilderness. However, his views inflamed critics who feared Olson and other wilderness advocates worried more about habitat than humans.
September 3, 2004 - The federal Wilderness Act is forty years old today - a document with a lot of Minnesota connections. The Bill was first introduced in 1956 by Minnesota US Senator Hubert Humphrey. One its most visible supporters was Ely writer Sigurd Olson. Olson's biographer, David Backes, says Olson was controversial but respected.
September 3, 2004 - MPR’s Bob Kelleher traces the individuals and movement that led to the U.S. 1964 Wilderness Act, creating the nation's system of federally protected wilderness. Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area was one of the first. Several Minnesotans played prominent roles, including then U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey and a junior college administrator from Ely, named Sigurd Olson.
July 17, 1998 - A reading of an excerpt from Sigurd Olson’s “Wilderness Days.”
July 17, 1998 - MPR’s Leif Enger takes a look at the BWCA twenty years after legislation to protect it, and the divide in viewpoints on the land that have existed throughout the 20th century. Segment includes various interviews and commentary.
September 8, 1996 - MPR’s Greta Cunningham interviews Emilie Buchwald, co-founder and publisher of Milkweed Editions, about nature essays. Milkweed Editions hopes the current debate over the use of the Boundary Waters will inspire people to put pen to paper and submit their writing in their essay contest.
January 24, 1987 - Sigurd Olson: "Sounds of the Night" and "Wild Encounters" from Of Time and Place.
October 15, 1986 - MPR’s Mark Heistad presents "The Land Between: An Aural Portrait of the BWCA," a documentary about the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and the people who live there.
January 14, 1982 - Noted environmentalist and author Sigurd Olson passed away on January 13, 1982 in Ely, Minnesota. This news feature honors his passing by airing his own words.