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Fulfilling the promise
of Aldo Leopold’s
Land Ethic
The Aldo Leopold Foundation is setting out on the most significant chapter in its history in order to fulfill the promise of Aldo Leopold’s “Land Ethic.”
Ensuring that far more people understand and accept their responsibility for the health of the land is the fundamental mission of the Aldo Leopold Foundation and the aim of the Land Ethic Campaign.
The Foundation has developed a long-term strategy to protect and share the unique assets that embody and sustain the Leopold legacy, encourage ecological and ethical stewardship of private and public land, and promote an ecological understanding of the land community leading to a Land Ethic throughout society.
Restore and Protect the Leopold Shack and Farm
 In 1935, the Leopold family renovated a rickety chicken coop on the Wisconsin River near Baraboo, Wisconsin affectionately called the ‘shack.’ For years, the ‘shack’ would serve as Aldo’s weekend retreat and provide the unique setting that provided the inspiration for Leopold’s observations, lessons and writing. While the ‘shack’ has become a metaphor for living lightly on the land, the land surrounding this symbolic structure is equally significant.
The Leopold Shack still stands to this day, more than 70 years after Leopold and his family first selected it as their refuge from too much modernity.
After seven decades of rain, snow, wind, sun, wear-and-tear, the Leopold shack is seriously threatened. Carefully planned intervention will stop the shack’s deterioration and restore its integrity with great sensitivity to its original appearance and character.
Initial restoration efforts were taken in the fall of 2004 by removing selected trees in proximity to the Shack that posed a hazard. This has also improved air circulation and solar exposure reducing mold and moisture issues on certain portions of the structure. In the summer of 2005 we will resume the restoration efforts. These preservation measures will complement the foundation’s work with the National Park Service to recognize the site, already on the National Register of Historic Places, with their highest designation, a National Historic Landmark.
Restored and protected, the Shack and farm will continue to inspire and encourage people for generations and will play a key role in our plan to foster the Land Ethic nationally.
 Inventory, Protect and Digitize the Leopold Archives
The Leopold archives – writings, unpublished manuscripts, journals, correspondence, sketches, photographs, and implements he used on the land – represent a wealth of information about the evolution of Leopold’s thinking and the dawning and growth of the conservation movement from the early 1900s through Leopold’s death in 1948 and beyond.
The Aldo Leopold Foundation is presently archiving thousands of unique Aldo Leopold writings, sketches, printed documents, and photographs by scanning them into computers. Once digitized, the archives will be protected and available electronically for appropriate uses.
Take a closer look at what we are doing with the archives.
 The Aldo Leopold Foundation is planning to construct an education and interpretive center near the Shack, on land where Leopold died in 1948 fighting a brush fire. The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center will provide the infrastructure necessary for our operations and serve as the hub for our educational outreach, land restoration and stewardship initiatives, and research as we advance the Land Ethic.
The new Aldo Leopold Legacy Center will serve many important functions:
Educational Programming and Outreach – The Center will include classrooms for educational programming and outreach to increase the ecological literacy of our citizens.
Tours of the Land – The Center will serve as the staging area for field trips to the Leopold forests, savanna, wetlands, and prairies and permit relevant classroom discussion before and after the tours.
Retreats – The Center will welcome a variety of people and, with the Shack, will provide an unequaled setting for reflection and examination of emerging issues in conservation.
Interpretive Exhibits – An exhibit area in the Center, featuring authentic Leopold artifacts, will document the history of restoration and ecological management of the property, bringing the evolution of Leopold’s Land Ethic to life in a story not told anywhere else in the world.
Archives and Library – Many priceless and irreplaceable original Leopold materials will be housed, archived, and displayed in the Center. A library will provide access to digitized Leopold writings, photographs, and sketches, dramatically expanding access to these precious resources.
Web-based Distance Learning – To reach a national audience more effectively, the Center will employ web-based distance learning technology, enabling people from around the country to participate in the many valuable learning opportunities planned for the Center as well as virtual walkthroughs of the Center’s interpretive exhibits, and remote access to valuable Leopold archives.
Land Stewardship and Research – Laboratories, workrooms, and equipment will allow the foundation to improve its nationally recognized work in ecological restoration both around the Shack and with landowners throughout the region.
Demonstration of ‘Green’ Form and Function – The Center will serve as a model of ecological fitness. Preliminary energy modeling of the Center indicates its peak-cooling load will be 75% less and its peak-heating load will be 50% less than traditional construction of equal size. A distinguished Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification will be pursued by combining energy efficiency, local materials, and ecological design.
The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center will be among the nation’s leading examples of ecological design, construction, and operation – a living example of the Land Ethic.
View updates on the construction of the Leopold Legacy Center.
Establish Endowment Funds
The Leopold Legacy Center and the expanded programming it will serve are ambitious new initiatives that will have a profound effect on the advancement of the land ethic. The Foundation has established three related endowment funds:
Shack & Archives Endowment Fund – This fund will ensure the foundation’s core assets – the original Leopold family farm and Shack and Leopold archives – are fully protected in perpetuity.
Aldo Leopold Legacy Center & Program Fund – This fund will cover maintenance and operations of the Center as well as some of the programming that will originate there.
Operational Reserve Fund – This fund will support the general operating needs of the foundation.
Future Phases
Improve the ecological and ethical management of all land and expand the “Land Ethic”
Once the foundation has ensured that the physical and intellectual assets of the Leopold legacy have been protected and shared (Phase I), we will expand our efforts to improve the ecological and ethical management of all land and expand the land ethic nationally. In Phase II, the foundation plans to launch the following projects:
Private Lands Conservation Education Initiative – The foundation will launch a far-reaching educational initiative designed to improve public understanding of ecological and ethical land stewardship by private landowners, who own 70% of the land in the contiguous United States.
Leopold Fellows Program – The Leopold Fellows Program will deepen the historical, ethical, and scientific understanding of future conservation leaders.
Land Ethic Learning Resources – The foundation will encourage and support preparation and distribution of books and multi-media products including books on tape, CD-ROMs, a parent’s guide to A Sand County Almanac, and high-quality documentaries of Leopold’s life and work.
Land Ethic Alliance – The goal of the Land Ethic Alliance is to connect many independent Leopold and land ethic advocates into a more productive force to advance Leopold’s vision.
Through the alliance, members will share information, reduce redundancy, seek agreement on common goals, and be more effective than they would be working separately.
Future Leaders Initiative – By actively involving educators at all levels of education, especially at institutions of higher learning, students across the country will better understand our nation’s conservation heritage and the continued vitality and relevance of the land ethic.
Dramatically Expand the Reach of A Sand County Almanac – The foundation will promote the distribution of A Sand County Almanac to a wider audience within the U.S. as well as translate and disseminate the Almanac in several additional languages beyond the nine already available.
Ecological Understanding Small Grants Program – The foundation will develop a small grants program to encourage projects that promote ecological understanding and the land ethic.
Widespread Leopold Exhibits – The foundation will encourage and support development of Leopold exhibits and other materials for environmental learning centers across the country, including national and state parks, zoos, museums, and public and private nature centers.
Make a Gift
The Aldo Leopold Foundation is committed to fostering the land ethic through the Legacy of the Aldo Leopold. The Land Ethic Campaign is the defining event in our foundation’s history.
The cost of the initiatives of Phase I of the Land Ethic Campaign total $6.9 million. So far, friends and supporters have committed more than $3.7 million, 54% of the goal.
We are all indebted to Aldo Leopold. His words have stirred many to a personal ecological awareness. With the support of your gift, we will pick up where Leopold left off. Your financial support of the Land Ethic Campaign will enable us to share the legacy of Aldo Leopold and to awaken an ecological conscience in the people of our nation.
As long as we care about people, land, and the connections between them, we have hope for sustainable ecosystems, sustainable economies, and sustainable communities.
Help us continue to foster the Land Ethic—not only with words, but with actions on the land.
Help us fulfill Leopold’s dream of harmony between people and land.
Help us fulfill the promise of Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic.
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