Steve Brower

Brower grew up in the Leopold neighborhood and discovered the same bluff escarpments and riverscapes that Aldo tramped & sloshed during his boyhood 60 years earlier. Teaching Landscape Architecture at Iowa State University, Steve brought students to Burlington for visits with Aldo’s siblings, Marie and Frederic in the 1970's - to learn & tramp around the beginnings of the Leopold Legacy. Steve went on to work for the Iowa DNR and the US Forest Service before returning to Burlington as a consultant in landscape design and architectural history. His later work as a naturalist with the National Park Service in western states helped focus his study on the “Human Response to Nature” which delves into why we (and the Leopolds) have such strong feelings about certain landscape characteristics. Brower speaks frequently on the subjects of nature, design, and Leopold ('Aldo Leopold and The Roots of the Land Ethic' or "Leopold's Roots of the Wilderness Idea").

Steve is President of the all-volunteer conservation education organization Leopold Landscape Alliance - a 501c3 Non-profit that has purchased the two adjacent Leopold homes perched on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. LLA is 11 years old. Primary goals include advancing Leopold's 'land ethic' philosophy, landscape restoration planning with private landowners, advocating for "children in nature" education experiences and In-Residence Retreats for researchers, writers and artists dealing with nature & conservation subjects.

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