Future Leaders Program
Many organizations have internship programs. The Aldo Leopold Foundation has the Future Leaders Program. This program supports fellows at career stages ranging from collegiate to post-graduate to mid-career. Regardless of their stage, all fellows receive a life-enriching experience framed by Aldo Leopold’s call for a respectful relationship between people and land. Explore our various fellowships below!
Associate Fellowships
Watch this special preview of the fellow internship featuring the 2022-2023 Associate Fellows!
Associate Fellowships are at the heart of our Future Leaders Program. This yearlong experience is designed for individuals who have recently completed their undergraduate degree. This fellowship focuses on seven core areas: conservation leadership, fundraising, applied science, natural history, partnership building, strategic planning, communication, and land ethics. Each of these core concepts are addressed through professional development sessions, and on-the-job experiences. Associate Fellows specialize within one of two program areas, Education & Communication or Land Stewardship.
Land Stewardship Fellowships
The Land Stewardship Fellowship is a unique opportunity to work side by side with experienced staff applying your existing knowledge and skills while learning new ones, ultimately enhancing your own land ethic. Fellows will work within restored and remnant Wisconsin habitats ranging from prairies to floodplain forests to sedge meadows to oak savannas. This diverse outdoor classroom provides opportunities to hone effective strategies and tools to effectively manage diverse ecosystems. Learn More!
Education & Communication Fellowships
The Education & Communication Fellowship provides the opportunity to build upon your education and communication background through the legacy of Aldo Leopold. Education & Communication Fellows support an array of on-site programs, outreach initiatives, and communication efforts. These fellows welcome and orient visitors, lead tours of the Leopold Shack, fabricate interpretive displays, and help organize community events and programs throughout the year. Learn More!
Interested in an Associate Fellowship?
View the 2023-2024 Associate Fellowship Job Description and Application Instructions:
View our current openings.
Alternative Fellowships
Seasonal Fellowships
The Seasonal Fellowships is a 6 week experience designed to provide college students pursuing careers in conservation the opportunity to gain practical skills in ecological restoration and management, or education and outreach. We are not currently accepting applications for the year 2022.
A recent seasonal fellow was Uriel Lee. Uriel had never participated in conservation field work before her seasonal fellowship with the foundation. The six weeks she spent working in the fields, forests, and wetlands around the Leopold Center gave her a new appreciation for land stewardship.
Visiting Fellowships
Visiting fellowships have been a regular but more opportunistic experience in the history of the foundation. This experience aims to expand and enrich the Future Leaders Program by creating new opportunities for networking and mentoring across the world.
Ufuk Özdağ is a past visiting fellow who spent two months with the Leopold Foundation while on sabbatical from her professorship at Hacettepe University in Turkey. The experience inspired her to translate Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac into Turkish. She also established the Land Ethic Research and Application Center at Hacettepe University that is advancing Leopold’s land ethic in Turkey.
Interested in one of our alternative fellowships??