The Leopold Center is named for Aldo Leopold, a Burlington, Iowa native who saw a need for wise use of land and water resources. The internationally known conservationist, ecologist, and educator devoted his life to planting seeds of thought about how farming should be productive but not interfere with natural systems.

During his 61 years, he published nearly 500 works including technical reports, speeches, textbooks, newsletters, reviews, and even a few poems. But he is best-known for A Sand County Almanac, a collection of 41 essays published 18 months after his death in 1948.

This book has been compared to Henry David Thoreau's Walden, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and the works of John Muir. Many of the essays focused on the the birds, animals and plants surrounding Leopold's weekend home (called "the Shack") on the Wisconsin River north of Madison.

In this book, Leopold outlined his famous "land ethic" and development of an ecological conscience.

An early graduate from Yale University's School of Forestry, Leopold worked many years for the U.S. Forest Service in the Arizona and New Mexico territories. He also was a game consultant, and chaired the country's first Department of Game Management at the University of Wisconsin. He helped found the Wilderness Society and the Wildlife Society and was active in numerous conservation organizations.

Read about Leopold's views on agriculture

Downloadable summary of Leopold's life [PDF] from the Aldo Leopold Foundation

April 4, 2005 radio feature, Great Lakes Radio Consortium

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• Aldo Leopold Foundation, research, education and management of the Leopold "Sand Farm," Baraboo, Wisconsin
   
• Leopold Heritage Group, dedicated to preserving Leopold's legacy where he was born and spent his early years in Burlington, Iowa
   
• Aldo Leopold Nature Center, education and outreach, Monona, Wisconsin
  
  
• The Leopold Educational Project, curriculum and other resources can be ordered online, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  
  
• Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research, research institute of the U.S. Forest Service, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana
  
  
• Aldo Leopold Weekend, officially the first weekend in March in the state of Wisconsin, designated as a time to read from Leopold's A Sand County Almanac and learn more about his land ethic
  
  
• Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, fellowships for up to 20 scientists each year, established in 1998
  

Game Management, Aldo Leopold, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1933

A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold, Oxford University Press, 1949

Round River: From the Journals of Aldo Leopold, Oxford University Press, 1953

Thinking Like a Mountain: Aldo Leopold and the Evolution of an Ecological Attitude toward Deer, Wolves and Forests, Susan Flader, University of Missouri Press, 1974

Companion to A Sand County Almanac: Interpretive and Critical Essays, J. Baird Callicott, University of Wisconsin Press, 1987

Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work, Curt Meine, University of Wisconsin Press, 1988

The River of the Mother of God: And Other Essays by Aldo Leopold, Susan Flader and J. Baird Callicott, editors, University of Wisconsin Press, 1991

Aldo Leopold: Living with the Land, Julie Dunlap, Twenty-First Century Books, 1993 (for younger readers)

Aldo Leopold's Southwest, Aldo Leopold (David E. Brown, editor), University of New Mexico Press, 1995

The Essential Aldo Leopold: Quotations and Commentaries, Curt Meine and Richard Knight (editors), University of Wisconsin Press, 1999

A Sand County Almanac, Outdoor Essays and Reflections, Aldo Leopold, Kenneth Brower (editor) and Michael Sewell (photographer), Oxford University Press, 2001

For the Health of the Land: Previously Unpublished Essays and Other Writings, Aldo Leopold and J. Baird Callicott and Eric T. Freyfogle (editors), Island Press, 2001

Aldo Leopold: A Fierce Green Fire, Marybeth Lorbiecki, Falcon, 2005

Aldo Leopold's Odyssey: Rediscovering the Author of A Sand County Almanac, Julianne Lutz Newton, Island Press, 2006

Excerpts from Leopold's works

Aldo Leopold: Edge of the Prairie

Aldo Leopold: Ecology Hall of Fame

Transformation of Aldo Leopold

Aldo Leopold philosophy

Aldo Leopold legacy

Aldo Leopold, father of wildlife management

Aldo Leopold on land conservation

Leopold archives and photographs, at the University of Wisconsin's Ecology and Natural Resources Digital Collection

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