17 August 2023
FINLAND, Minn. The Association of Nature Center Administrators has chosen Peter Smerud, executive director of the Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center, as the recipient of its 2023 Nature Center Leadership Award.
The award acknowledges Smerud’s major achievements at Wolf Ridge and as a national leader in outdoor education. Smerud is the first Minnesotan to receive the award.
Smerud has championed nature-based learning and energy efficiency at the national and state level. He recently led the Minnesota Outdoor School for All Coalition, advancing legislation that would see the state pay for a three-day, two-night immersive nature experience for every fourth- through eighth-grade student in the state. Oregon and Washington already have similar laws in place.
Smerud joined Wolf Ridge in 1987, when he started working as a naturalist. Over his 36 years at Wolf Ridge, he has been involved in facility and program development, adventure education and administration. He took over as executive director in 2011.
Wolf Ridge, located near Finland, just off the North Shore of Lake Superior, is the largest accredited environmental learning center in the U.S. More than 13,000 K-12 students from Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Illinois and Florida visit Wolf Ridge each school year. Since 1974, the center’s naturalist training program has produced professional educators who now lead nature-based educational programs all over the world.
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