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. Have younger students? Click here for our recommendations.

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 (PDF format - 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 Leopold 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?
While tour guides 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 group of architects or engineers and would be interested in a more specialized tour, we can work with you to schedule a custom Expert Tour date for your group, led by members of our building team. 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 between Memorial Day weekend and the last weekend in October, we have reserved Saturday afternoons for public programs. During these months, 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.

“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.”

Programs for Young Children

Because the Shack is a somewhat fragile and finite resource, unlike many nature centers, we do not encourage heavy visitation by grade school and middle school groups. We work with a small number of middle school (6th- 8th grade) school groups that have demonstrated an exceptional level of student preparation for the visit with appropriate prior study in the classroom. You might consider encouraging your students to attend our annual Family Day celebration, an event designed to cater to kids of all ages. Typically Family Day takes place on the third Saturday in May. Contact us if you'd like more information.

For most groups with younger students, we recommend that teachers consider visiting the Aldo Leopold Nature Center in Madison, a separate organization, but a partner of the Aldo Leopold Foundation. One of the aspects of our partnership is the Children's Shack at their site in Monona, Wisconsin. Designed to teach children about Aldo Leopold and the simplicity with which he lived on the Wisconsin landscape, "The Children's Shack" is a joint project of the Aldo Leopold Nature Center, the Aldo Leopold Foundation, and The Renschler Company who donated materials and labor. It is a replica of the actual Shack, designed for use by children.