Erik is the Treaty Natural Resources Division Administrator for the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Previously, Erik was a Full Professor of Biology & Natural Resources at Northland College until it closed in May 2025. Erik is an instructor at Center for Wildlife Studies, runs his own ecological consulting business, is an affiliated scientist with the Burke Center for Ecosystem Research, and serves as a member of the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group for his work with neotropical felids, mainly jaguar. Erik is a co-founder of the JaguarOsa project. Since 2015, JaguarOsa has focused on assessing the conservation status of jaguars within Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica and beyond. Erik has also examined human attitudes towards dispersing cougars in the Midwest region of the USA. Erik holds a Ph.D. in Environment & Resources from the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

eolson@burkectr.org