Group Tour Programs

Educational opportunities are available year-round to groups interested in visiting the original Leopold farm and Shack and/or the energy efficient Aldo Leopold Legacy Center. Shack tours are generally best during the months of April - October due to weather. Recommended age level is grade 9 through adult. We can schedule tours for middle school (6th- 8th grade) if the instructor can demonstrate that the students have prepared for the visit with appropriate prior study in the classroom. Groups of 10 or more may request a tour by downloading a group tour request form and sending it in to our education staff. (see below). If your group is fewer than 10 people, we request that you plan to join one of our already scheduled public tours.

Group Tour Request Form (Microsoft Word format) to send via e-mail
Group Tour Request Form (Adobe PDF format) to send via fax or US mail
(click here to download Adobe Reader)

Requests must be received by the Foundation at least 10 days prior to the desired tour date and confirmed by the Foundation staff. Bookings for spring and fall dates can fill up as early as 1-2 months in advance, especially for Saturday dates. Send your request as far in advance as possible!

Group Rates (minimum of 10 participants, maximum 40 participants)

Students (middle school, high school): $5 per person, with chaperones and teachers included at no charge
College students: $8 per person, with chaperones and teachers included at no charge
Seniors (over the age of 62): $8 per person
Adults: $10 per person

Tour Options

Guided Shack Tour Only (1.5 - 2 hours)
Learn about the history and philosophy of Aldo Leopold, walk through the landscapes that provided the inspiration for A Sand County Almanac, and see the famous Shack that was the center of one of our nation’s earliest attempts at land restoration.

Guided Legacy Center Tour Only (1 hour)
Learn about how energy efficient design, alternative energy technologies, and use of local materials earned the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center the rating of “greenest building in the world.”

Combined Tour (2.5 - 3 hours)
See how the thread of Aldo Leopold's land ethic ties the two sites together.

Looking for something more?
All tour programs are led by education interns and staff at the Aldo Leopold Foundation. While we go through a rigorous training program and cover a wide range of information in our tours, we are by no means experts, particularly when it comes to building architecture and engineering. A number of specialized building related groups have come on tours in the past couple of years, and many have requested for a higher level of content on Leopold Center tours specifically. If you are a part of a small group of architects or engineers and would be interested in a more specialized tour, check out our Expert Tour program series for 2009, and see if one of the dates and topics we have scheduled will work for your group. If you would like to try and schedule a custom Expert Tour date for your group, different rates and scheduling procedures apply. Contact our education staff for more information, but do plan farther in advance if this is the option you would like to pursue. Many of the building team members who worked on the Leopold Center have busy schedules and must also travel to the site from a distance. Contact us for more information.

Tour policies for all groups

Dress for the weather (multiple layers and rain gear strongly recommended)
Poison ivy and ticks are very prevalent on the site. Closed toed shoes and long pants are recommended.
In event of severe weather, tour may be canceled or delayed.
If your group is not able to keep your tour appointment, we will do everything we can to try and re-schedule at a later date. We appreciate notice of cancellation or rescheduling as far in advance as possible. Thank you.

Group Tour Schedules

If you are requesting a Saturday tour during our public open hours, we have reserved Saturday afternoons for public programs. The only time slots we have available for group tours on Saturdays are morning times. Contact us as soon as possible to schedule, since Saturday tours fill up the fastest of all dates.

We can schedule group tours with start times as early as 9am, with programs ending as late as 5:00 pm. We are not able to schedule group tours on Sundays. Many groups combine a visit to the Aldo Leopold Foundation with a visit to the nearby International Crane Foundation. Drive time between the two centers is about 10 minutes.

Work Tours

Work Projects & Reduced Fees
Groups that have abundant time and physical energy may apply to add a work project (1 hour) to any tour for a reduced flat rate fee of $50 per group, which includes all tour programming. Work projects have a limit of 20 people or fewer. Minimum recommended age is grade 9. We may not be able to accommodate all requests for work project based tours, but will make the decision based on each group’s request and prior experience. The primary reason we offer work-based tour experiences is to offer a deep immersion in and connection to the Leopold landscape for participants. Since work tours require a longer time commitment both on the part of the group and the Leopold Foundation staff, we want to be sure the group is very invested in the work project portion of the program. Committed, excited participants and leaders ensure that the experience will be a positive one for all involved. Please make requests at least two months in advance of your requested date for proper scheduling.

You may want to bring work gloves for participants and have them wear long pants and closed-toed shoes. Poison ivy and ticks will be present at the work site. Wear insect repellant.
Projects are defined by season and most frequently involve labor-intensive work on the land such as brush clearing, invasive species removal, or weed pulling.
Due to scheduling and staffing limitations, we are not able to offer work projects on Saturdays.

Work Tour Rate
Available for grade 9 through adult, up to 20 people
$50 per group (includes all tour programming)

“On this sand farm in Wisconsin, first worn out and then abandoned by our bigger-better society, we try to rebuild, with shovel and axe what we are losing elsewhere.”