Public Policy Analysis Challenge

As executive director of the Leopold Foundation, Mr. Huffaker’s work may involve anything from giving a talk, to fundraising, to reviewing financial statements—sometimes all in the same day. Since joining the organization as an intern 20 years ago, Mr. Huffaker has done just about everything—from working as a field botanist, to running a chainsaw, and even acting as a line boss on prescribed burns.

Mr. Huffaker’s academic background is landscape architecture and plant ecology, but he has also completed a lot of professional development coursework on fundraising, management, and finance. He has been recognized as an Executive Scholar in Not‐for‐Profit Management by Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He also participated in the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation and was elected to represent the Northeast Region at the U.S. Forest Service’s Centennial Congress. His contributions to books include a foreword with Nina Leopold Bradley in Aldo Leopold and the Ecological Conscience, and a chapter in The Farm as a Natural Habitat on assisting private landowners interested in implementing Leopold’s land ethic.

While Mr. Huffaker’s responsibilities have lately taken him away from the field, he has found it very rewarding to see the Leopold Foundation’s programming and reach expand so much, and to know that the organization is truly helping now to advance a conservation ethic across the country and beyond.

Mr. Huffaker says that one of the most thrilling parts of his job is interacting with individuals and communities all over the country who are working not only to fully understand Leopold’s vision of a land ethic, but more importantly, implement it in their day-to-day lives.