The Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute is the outreach arm of Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin. On August 27, 1971, a little over a year after the celebration of the first Earth Day, Northland College hosted its first environmental conference. Among those invited to address the two-day conference were United States Senator Gaylord Nelson, and Sigurd Olson. The conference became "the instrument of origin of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute," as Robert Matteson, the founder of the Institute, wrote. With energy to move in a new and exciting direction, and guided by the philosophies of Sigurd Olson, the Institute opened its doors in spring of 1972, embarking on more than 30 years of serving Northland College and the Lake Superior region.