Aldo Leopold Legacy Center
Meeting in a Green Space
Bring your group to visit!
Host your next meeting at one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in the nation. The new Aldo Leopold Legacy Center in Baraboo, Wisconsin is a beautiful and unique facility that has several different meeting spaces available for rental on a limited basis for groups that share our mission and vision. Set in rural Wisconsin, the Legacy Center is surrounded by the lovely 1,500 acre Leopold Memorial Reserve, which includes the original Leopold Shack and Farm. Typically we require at least one month’s notice to book meeting spaces. Currently most of our Saturday dates are reserved for our own programming, but many weekday dates are available throughout our open season.
We have two meeting spaces available:
The Outlook Meeting Wing (capacity 25)
The Home Range Hall (capacity 80)
Information about catering, lodging, and tours can be found below.
The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center is quite different from a typical meeting room in a hotel conference center. It has been certified by the US Green Building Council as a Platinum LEED building, earning the highest number of LEED points of any building in the United States. The rooms showcase walls, ceiling decking, trusses, flooring, and furniture all made from locally- harvested or recycled materials and finished and installed by local craftspeople and contractors. It is truly a unique space. The connection to Leopold is palpable, and we hope the setting we provide can be an inspiration to groups with similar goals.
The Outlook Meeting Wing
Seasons of use available: March - mid-December
Capacity: 20-25 people
Board room style setup is fixed, with 6 handmade wooden tables and 20 handmade wooden chairs (more chairs may be brought in). Small break-out room next to the main meeting hall may also be used. Meals served buffet style in adjacent foyer. Multiple windows can open to the outside to let in fresh air, and allow views in almost every direction of the Leopold Memorial Reserve, while two porches provide ample area to enjoy meeting breaks in the open air. A wood stove provides extra heat on chilly days.
Amenities include:
- Free wireless internet access for users with their own laptops
- All meals served on ALF china (no paper products)
- Water available throughout the day (no bottled water)
- Printing and photocopying for group
- Use of speakerphone for conference calls (conference call service
and long distance fees additional) - Discounted tour rates for Shack and Legacy Center
The Home Range Hall
Seasons of use available: April - mid November
Capacity: 30 people classroom, 85 people lecture
The room is designed to be a three season structure, and from approximately June through September, screens are always open to let in fresh air from the outdoors. Storm windows will be on in early spring and late fall to help insulate the space in shoulder seasons, and a wood stove provides the only heat source on chilly days. Overhead, hand peeled Leopold pine trusses frame the space and support the roof. Doors open onto grassy courtyard surrounded by native plantings. Restrooms are located in the main facility, which is not connected to this space. Main building is accessed by a short walk across our courtyard.
Amenities include:
- Wireless internet access for users with their own laptops
- Water available throughout the day
- Discounted tour rates for Shack and Legacy Center
Catering
ALF is partnering exclusively with Taffy Durkee at the Java Café for all catered events at the Legacy Center. She spent 10 years in San Francisco soaking up the European ambience and renowned cuisine that the city had to offer and now brings her knowledge to Baraboo. Her catering business offers some of the area's best selections of healthy sandwiches, organic coffees, and homemade breads.
Breakfast and lunch rates available on request. Dinners or evening receptions for rental groups at the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center are permitted on a very limited basis for special events with prior approval. Please inquire about rates and availability. Note that catering charges are subject to state of Wisconsin sales tax of 5.5% unless your group is a US Government agency or a non-profit that holds a Wisconsin Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Exempt Status (CES) Certificate number. The Java Cafe cannot legally extend tax exemption on catering to non-profits without tax exempt status in the state of Wisconsin. Catering is billed separately to the client by the Java Cafe.
Programs for Meeting Participants
We strongly encourage rental groups to schedule time to interact with our education program staff during your meeting.
Tour the Historic Leopold Shack and Farm
The Shack is a re-built chicken coop along the Wisconsin River where noted author and conservationist Aldo Leopold and his family stayed during weekend retreats and initiated surrounding ecological restorations. The land surrounding the Shack and farm provided the inspiration for the essays in the conservation classic A Sand County Almanac, and it continues to provide a window into one of the earliest attempts at land restoration anywhere in the world. Each year, thousands of visitors are inspired through visits to the same landscape that deeply moved Leopold. Minimum time needed in your schedule to include a Shack tour is 1 hour. Recommended time is 1.5 hours.
Tour the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center
Since the Legacy Center is such a unique setting, many participants enjoy learning more about their surroundings. Learn how solar power, geothermal, and sustainable building materials helped our facility earn the rating of "greenest building in the world." Minimum time needed in your schedule to include a Leopold Center tour is 30 minutes. Recommended time is 1 hour.
Presentations
For groups that do not have time to actually walk around on a tour program down at the Shack or around the Leopold Center, The Leopold Foundation education staff can also do a talk (PowerPoint or simple lecture style) on a variety of topics that consolidate the tour program content.
Lodging
The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center is located at E13701 Levee Road in the township of Fairfield, Wisconsin. We are located about 15 minutes northeast of Baraboo and approximately 10 minutes southeast of Wisconsin Dells. Contact us for lodging recommendations in either area.
Maps and directions to the Leopold Center.
Contact
To reserve one our spaces, please contact Jennifer Kobylecky, Education Coordinator at the Aldo Leopold Foundation, to inquire about dates, rates, and request room reservation forms. Please contact us as far in advance as possible-- meeting rentals must not conflict with existing programming of the Aldo Leopold Foundation, and schedules fill up quickly. Thank you for your interest!