New SHTA Board Member is a Landscape Architect and Trail Runner
January 30, 2025
Landscape architects apply the physical and natural sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics in designing spaces where millions of people live, work, and play, including places like trails.
“Landscape architects are often misunderstood as the person who solves the weed problem in the backyard,” said Ryan Holdorf, who joined the Superior Hiking Trail Association Board of Directors in June 2024.
But the skill set of landscape architects, and the skills that Ryan brings to our board, is wide-ranging and diverse.
During his career, Ryan has been involved in all types of trail projects: trail and trailhead planning and development, soft surface and paved trails, interpretive and nature trails, including trails in the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge and segments and connections to Highline Canal Trail, and a variety of park trail systems for community and regional parks in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, North Dakota, Montana, Texas, and Tennessee.
Currently, he’s working on projects at the Yunker Farm Park in Fargo, another in Sugar Grove, Illinois, and is designing a network of healing gardens at an oncology facility for people receiving cancer treatment and their families.
Ryan also has experience serving on boards, including serving two-terms as a mayoral appointed commissioner on the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission for the City and County of Denver.
“[Landscape architects] have a very gentle footprint on the world in the sense that we are increasingly trying to help humans grow and thrive but also do it in a way that is ecologically sustainable,” he said.
A voilà moment
Ryan grew up in Linn County, Iowa and developed an interest and deep curiosity of the natural world around him. “Observing and pulling snails out of the creek bank, fishing, collecting caterpillars, and getting the occasional bee sting, we were always outdoors and exploring from sunup to sun down,” he said. “Those were my first really fond memories of what would become my long relationship with the natural environment.”
His family moved to Madison, Wisconsin when Ryan was 10 years old, and he became enamored with the glaciated landscape full of lakes, rolling hills, and the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright and Prairie Style Architecture. He was inspired and as a young adult, “I became very artistic; I spent a lot of time sketching,” Ryan said. “That was the early foundation for my career.
“When I got to the University of Minnesota, I started in horticulture, then ecology, then dabbled in art courses. When I ran into landscape architecture it was a ‘Voilà!’ moment, and I fell in love.”
Ryan first discovered the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT) while working as a Research Fellow on a Community Planning and Development Project in Beaver Bay. On their drive up the North Shore, he and his colleagues stopped at Jay Cooke State Park and connected with an SHT segment there.
After college, Ryan moved to Colorado and lived there for 17 years. His firm, Norris Design, is based in Denver. “Family and friends, and my love for Minnesota, brought me back. This is where I want to stay, retire, and have my life,” Ryan said.
Ryan had become an avid trail runner in Colorado. “Coming back to Minnesota and reengaging with the SHT has helped me expand my experience and love for trail running,” Ryan said. “I like the Trail for all its challenges – the steep inclines, declines, the muddy crossings, the rocky areas. Sometimes I run for time, sometimes for peace and solace. I think you get all of that on the Trail.”
Ryan’s favorite areas of the SHT are near Split Rock, Beaver Bay, Tettegouche, and Finland. He hopes to complete the entire Trail by 2026, and is currently using it to train for his fall 2025 Rim-to-Rim, 24-mile run of the Grand Canyon.
He loves how the Trail offers a “choose your own adventure” experience, doesn’t require fees or permits to use, and what that accessibility offers our community. “I see so many different people from all different backgrounds using the Trail. It seems there is accessibility to all no matter where they are from or how they want to use the Trail; there is an equity component that I love about the Trail,” Ryan said.
“The experience pulls people together from cross sections of the community, people bind together. You can make lifelong friends in a short amount of time.”
During his time on the Board, Ryan hopes to apply his skills to protecting the Trail in perpetuity, and continuing the SHTA’s inclusivity efforts. He will be serving on our Governance and Trail Protection Committees.
“I’m really happy to be a part of the Superior Hiking Trail Association Board of Directors. I see this as a wonderful opportunity. I feel a lot of gratitude, and I can’t thank all of the volunteers enough for how much time and effort they put into the Trail,” Ryan said. “Seeing how much gets done at the SHTA, the hours put in, I’m incredibly impressed. Big thanks to the volunteers!”
And we send a big thank you to Ryan for joining our Board of Directors, and sharing his diverse skill set with our entire trail community!
Annie Nelson, Development and Communications Director