Introducing Lindsay Bjorkland
Today we’d like to introduce you to a woman that inspires us- Lindsay Bjorkland, the Executive Director at Deep Portage Learning Center.
In this role she is instrumental in helping women and children gain confidence and courage in outdoor skills, education, and leadership at Deep Portage.
In her role as Executive Director, Lindsay oversees the 6,307 acre campus of the Deep Portage Conservation Reserve, the many buildings on site, dozens of staff, and thousands of visitors who come through Deep Portage each year.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, your training, and how you got started?
I grew up on a hobby farm near Red Wing, MN, so I was fortunate to spend a lot of time outdoors as a child. As a middle and high schooler, I was also able to participate in the Red Wing ELC -. a program that gave me an extraordinary amount of opportunities to learn and develop outdoor skills while on trips with peers.
I studied Environmental Science at UMD and soon after graduating started teaching environmental education and loved it. I first started at Deep Portage as a seasonal educator in 2014. After boucing between a variety of other outdoor education and natural resources jobs, I found myself back at Deep Portage permanently in 2019. Since then I have earned a Master's degree in Educational Leadership and transitioned into the Executive Director in 2022.
What aspect of your work are you most proud of?
At Deep Portage, we usually host students for 3 day, 2 night field trips. It's a very fun, exciting experience for these kids that they have been looking forward to for a long time. It's often the highlight of their year; they are having a blast, challenging themselves, and developing friendships.. and we get to be a part of that, on repeat all year long!! I'm proud to help provide those memories. It really is so special and only gets more meaningful the more experience I have. I was just helping with a climbing wall with some 6th graders for like the thousandth time.. but the social emotional growth they were able to articulate and the way they were genuinely supporting their classmates on their own personal challenges nearly brought me to tears. Magic!
I'm also proud of the relationships that have developed over the years with our visiting school teachers, camp families, community members, and of course retreat hosts!
What advice can you offer those of us that want to gain more outdoor skills?
Easier said than done, but try not to overcomplicate things. Yes, you want to have clothing that makes you feel comfortable outside but you don't need to spend a fortune or have the latest technical gear. Yes, do some research about the activity you'd like to learn, but also just go do it without worrying about doing it the "right" way. There is such a vast amount of information at our fingertips now - in some ways this is great, but in many ways it can paralyze us from just trying things and learning from experience. (Ask me how I know :D) Get outside and laugh off the inevitable embarrassment of not knowing what you're doing!
Same question- but more outdoor education about the natural world around us?
It's wonderful to just slow down. Hiking, skiing, biking, etc are all great activities to get outside and get moving. But if you want to learn, I think getting off the trail and just ambling aimlessly through the woods or sitting down for 20 minutes helps you become more observant and notice things you might otherwise not.
I also think it can be tempting to try to learn about nature, especially when you are preparing to teach about it, by googling things - try to resist that urge and instead take a little walk first. You'll always come back more inspired and have better questions and creative new ideas for teaching. Then you can do a deep internet dive, read books, and write plans!
Can you tell us one of your favorite outdoor adventure stories (maybe funny, maybe crazy)
I'll share about a camping trip in Arizona I took with some friends. We were spending the night on some public land outside Sedona. We found a great spot off some backroad near a little creek. It was mildly sprinkling and even though we were Minnesotans in the desert, we knew we should probably be mindful of flashflooding. We picked our spot a bit away from the creek and stuck a stick in the water to keep an eye on water levels (I'm sure that's a very official method). We faithfully checked the stick throughout the evening with no changes, phew. About 2 am one of my friends woke us up and calmly let us know we should probably move. Lo and behold, we were now camping on an island. Where there once was small creek, there was a raging river, and where there was dry ground was now 3 feet of rushing water. We forded the new river with our tents over our heads. Well, we figured we might as well get a head start driving to the Grand Canyon now that we're packed up and definitely awake! We made it by 8 am after a harrowing drive through landslides and rained that turned to snow.
