It was at the eighth International Orienteering Federation (IOF) Congress in 1975 that Staxrud took over the chairmanship of the IOF Technical Committee.

The following year, he presented the first draft of the pictorial control description with its distinctive symbols.

Thereafter, the pictorial description symbols were developed further by the Technical Committee, and were finalised and approved for use in 1978.

"This was a great step forward for fair international competition, enabling orienteering to leave behind the hassle of often wrong or misleading translations for the description of controls," an IOF statement said.

During Staxrud's time leading the Technical Committee, the development of the international rules for orienteering made significant progress. 

He was chairman until 1982, when he handed over the position to Rolf Heinemann at the 11th IOF Congress in Liège.

In recognition of his ground-breaking work within the IOF, Staxrud was one of the first to be awarded the Silver Pin of Honour, in 1981.

The IOF governs four orienteering disciplines: foot orienteering, mountain bike orienteering, ski orienteering and trail orienteering

Its head office is located in Karlstad, Sweden.