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The Student Naturalist Training Program

More than 600 students from all over the world have participated
in the Wolf Ridge naturalist training program since it began in 1972.

Imagine setting out to bake the finest cake you can. You would recall all of the memorable cakes you personally prepared as well as those prepared by others. Only the finest ingredients would make it into your masterpiece. Then you would mix those ingredients with great care and be sure that both time and temperature were exactly correct.


Fall of 1982 at Isabella

 The cake would be served with the same love and attention that went into its preparation, and, your next “finest cake” would be just a little bit better because of what you learned.

The Student Naturalist training program at Wolf Ridge is a bit like that cake. The program began in 1972 and each year since then it has gotten better. We have very carefully selected the finest people, trained them well and then given them the opportunity to nurture those skills and become outstanding environmental educators.

In 1972 our student naturalists were college students or graduates that stayed with us for a quarter or semester. In 1979 the program was expanded to include a full academic year and in 1996 the Wolf Ridge effort was joined with a graduate program offered at UMD.
Since that time the students enrolled in the UMD-Wolf Ridge program have earned a graduate certificate in environmental education. They may, if they wish, continue the program at UMD and earn a Masters of Environmental Education.
Twenty five years ago it would have been nearly impossible to find a job as an “environmental educator.” That is no longer the case. Environmental education is in the process of being defined as a field of education.


Fall of 1988 - the First Season at Wolf Ridge

 The graduate program offered through UMD at Wolf Ridge was one of the first in the nation to identify the standards, skills and knowledge base essential to becoming a professional naturalist or environmental educator.
The student naturalists are still painstakingly selected. We’ve learned that all of our applicants are exceptional and choosing among them is always difficult. Only the finest are invited to participate.

Beginning with the 1998-99 school year Wolf Ridge will increase enrollment from 13 to 15 graduate students. The students will spend most of their time “on the ridge,” learning by teaching the rich and varied menu of Wolf Ridge classes. Their teaching skills will be nurtured by a deliberate evaluation process and their natural history knowledge will be deepened by field work and attending seminars. Wolf Ridge will provide the hands-on experience of environmental education and the UMD teachers will instruct courses that deal specifically with theory, philosophy and current environmental education issues.


Student Naturalists of 1996-97


Student Naturalists of 1991-92
Each June, following completion of the nine month program, Wolf Ridge and UMD award certificates to the 15 graduates, many of whom will move into and strengthen the growing field of environmental education.


First day for the class of 1998

 And each year the names of those 15 graduate students will, with both professional respect and personal fondness, be remembered by most of the 15,000 children and adults that attend Wolf Ridge each year.

Through the years we’ve learned that the combination of great people, careful and deliberate training at Wolf Ridge and hand selected university courses makes great naturalists. The Wolf Ridge naturalist training program is based on a fine old recipe that continues to get better.
"I have not only become a teacher, I have also become a naturalist. I have the feeling that I learned more about nature at Wolf Ridge then I learned during the five years that I studied biology."

Richard Haarhuis, Student Naturalist 1990-91


Six generations of Student Naturalists meet at the John Beargrease Snowshoe Race in Duluth

 Return to Graduate Student Naturalist page