This spring, the most significant shift in our landscape isn’t the retreating snow—it’s the retirement of the man who, for four decades, helped define the very horizon of environmental education. Peter Smerud is stepping down as Executive Director of Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center, marking the end of a forty-year career that began when an outdoor school was a novel experiment and ended with a global model for sustainability.
More than just an administrator, Peter shaped a legacy spanning the world’s first renovated “Living Building” and the transformative moments of over 350,000 students. He showed that a small Minnesota school could teach the world to live in balance with the earth.
Peter graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, in 1986 with a BA degree in Biology, Chemistry & German. In October 2025, he received the “Called to Serve” award from Concordia College, recognizing his life as a “servant leader.” The “Called to Serve” award is one of Concordia College’s most prestigious alumni honors. It is specifically designed to recognize alumni who have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to the college’s mission of “influencing the affairs of the world by sending into society thoughtful and informed selfless leaders.” A fifth-generation Concordia alum, Peter was recognized for his transformative 40-year career at Wolf Ridge.
In addition to his work at Wolf Ridge, Peter served for three decades in volunteer leadership roles in pre-hospital emergency medical services across Lake and Cook Counties. Beyond the boardroom and the forest, he and his wife, Sue, raised their daughters in eastern Lake County. Both of their daughters graduated from Silver Bay, and Peter famously chaperoned their 6thgrade field trips to Wolf Ridge just like any other parent.
Among Peter’s achievements at Wolf Ridge was leading the Margaret A. Cargill Lodge renovation, the first in the world to achieve full Living Building Certification by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI), the most rigorous green building standard requiring the building to generate 105% of its own energy and capture its own water—even during a North Shore winter.
Peter raised over $20 million and transformed Wolf Ridge from a regional field trip site into an international model for outdoor learning, becoming a foundational figure in environmental education.
In 2025, he was instrumental in establishing the Outdoor School for All Act at the Minnesota legislature. It supports a movement to ensure every Minnesota child has access to multi-day, nature-based learning regardless of their school’s budget.
He has also assisted other countries, including China, Hungary, and South America, in developing environmental learning centers modeled after Wolf Ridge.
Pete’s successor as Executive Director is Vanessa Riegler, a nonprofit leader with more than 20 years of experience in environmental education, youth development, and community engagement. On the Wolf Ridge website, Vanessa wrote, “Wolf Ridge’s vision of ‘a classroom with no boundaries’ deeply resonates with both my professional path and my personal values. I am honored to join this community and look forward to listening, learning, and building on the strong foundation already in place.”
Wolf Ridge Board Chair Schele Smith wrote on the website, “We are confident she will build on Pete’s extraordinary legacy while guiding Wolf Ridge into its next chapter.”
