“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”
—Aldo Leopold, Foreward to A Sand County Almanac, 1949
Community readings can inspire commitment for an ethical relationship to the natural world. There is power and untapped potential in public readings—building a sense of place, growing community bonds, amplifying voices, actively listening, inspiring critical-thinking, and conjuring emotional connections. Leopold Week is the first full week of March each year. We are providing mini-grants for civic groups to host public readings in their communities during the first weekend of Leopold Week, which will be March 7 or 8, 2026 or March 6 or 7, 2027. Because, we want your community to connect to ours!
Following your program on the first weekend, we welcome your participants to a global community assembled through our online program—Land Ethic® Live! Our Leopold Week programs are FREE, requiring only internet access. Each year, our community grows, with participation in the thousands and representing all 50 states and dozens of countries around the world. During our weekday evening programs, we will invite internationally known authors and conservation thought-leaders to share their insights and inspiration for an ethical relationship with the natural world. Past guests include Robin Wall Kimmerer, Drew Lanham, Delia Owens, Amy Tan, and Ed Yong, among many others! What can start locally and intimately in your community reading can culminate in your participants connecting with our global community of people committed to an ethical relationship to the natural world.
Aldo Leopold Week celebrations began on March 4, 2000 in the town of Lodi, Wisconsin. The first gathering was championed by Tom Heberlein, Emeritus Professor of Rural Sociology and Environmental Studies at UW-Madison.
That year, at Heberlein’s invitation, citizens congregated to read A Sand County Almanac aloud, cover-to-cover, as a way to explore a sense of place, build community bonds, and spread a Land Ethic®.
The events in Lodi led to a 2004 proclamation by then Wisconsin Governor James Doyle, officially designating the first weekend in March each year as Aldo Leopold Weekend in the state of Wisconsin. The state of Iowa followed suit in 2014 by designating the first week in March as Aldo Leopold Week.
We believe a successful event will allow participants to assemble, share, inspire, and connect.
We hope your program plan and promotions attract readers, listeners, and build a sense of place within your community. Successful programs have ranged from 3 to 8 hours induration.
We want your event to include readings from A Sand County Almanac to demonstrate Leopold’s beautiful writing and moral imperative of a Land Ethic®. We hope you include other authors’ works to demonstrate a diversity of perspectives and people placing importance on an ethical relationship with the natural world.
There are many ways your program can offer inspiration. One proven method is to include readers of all ages and backgrounds. Words spoken in public are powerful, in part because of who is speaking those words. Recruiting a diversity of speakers is an opportunity to create a powerful program.
We hope your event can be on the opening weekend of Leopold Week, so that participants can be encouraged to register for the Aldo Leopold Foundation’s Leopold Week evening virtual programs.
Madison Reads Leopold (MRL), Madison, Wisconsin, is a community read-aloud program that offers one “blueprint” as you plan your event. MRL has been coordinating a community reading since 2006 and honed their program in the process. For example, in 2025, Madison Reads Leopold: Voices of a Land Ethic will take place on March 1 from 1–4 p.m. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum. There will be a community reading of selections from A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold and writings by other environmental thinkers, including Ada Limón, Camille Dungy, and Robin Wall Kimmerer. Readings from contemporary environmental thinkers will be incorporated to amplify perspectives, values, and experiences of ethical relationships with the land. Listeners may come and go throughout the event. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum staff leading MRL have graciously made their planning materials available for use and found here.
Possible program formats include:
• Current Madison Reads Leopold format: Read selected essays from A Sand County Almanac capturing Leopold’s beautiful writing and moral call for a Land Ethic®, along with other selected authors.
• Read the book cover to cover (10 hours long!).
• Read the entire almanac portion, Part I (3 hours) and other selections (additional 1-2 hours).
• Readings followed by facilitated discussion or nature hike and/or activity from Learning with the Land: Exploring Nature through Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac.
• Readings and screening of Green Fire: A Land Ethic for Our Time, an Emmy-award winning documentary on Aldo Leopold and the Land Ethic®.
Through the generosity of the Tom Heberlein estate and family, we are offering mini-grants to support your community reading! Through a simple brief application process, we will select recipients of mini-grant awards on a rolling basis. The award will include 50 copies of A Sand County Almanac for you to distribute as you wish, promotional posters, postcards, and digital advertisements, and $500 cash to be used at your discretion for staff time, event space, food and drinks (no alcoholic beverages), and/or additional promotions. Funds can only be distributed to non-profit entities(e.g., library, religious group, civic organization, etc.). We will require minimal post-event reporting which will include your basic event plan, participation, use of books, value of promotional materials, and discretionary expenditures.
And, since we are attempting to support events on the same weekend of Leopold Week, we will be working to minimize competition among events. For example, Madison Reads Leopold already serves the greater Madison metropolitan area.
A Sand County Almanac books (50 copies)
Posters and postcards
Mini-grant funds at discretion of event host
Total Budget Value
no cost to you ($400 value)
no cost to you ($100 value)
$500
$1,000
Apply for a mini-grant by submitting the form below. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis. Stay updated by signing up for our e-newsletter: e-news sign-up form
The Aldo Leopold Foundation was founded in 1982 with a mission to foster the Land Ethic® through the legacy of Aldo Leopold, awakening an ecological conscience in people throughout the world.
"Land Ethic®" is a registered service mark of the Aldo Leopold Foundation, to protect against egregious and/or profane use.
