ACES Residency at Toklat is intended to advance the work of individuals whose projects provide inspiration toward solutions to environmental challenges.
ACES Toklat Wilderness Residency
Residency Overview
ACES Professional Wilderness Residency at Toklat is intended to give time and space to advance the work of one individual, whose projects inspire solutions to environmental challenges.
Examples include writing and artistic projects, scientific research and inquiry, and other efforts that benefit the environment and/or support ACES mission in some capacity.
Candidate Criteria
- Demonstrate excellence in their field.
- Represent a diverse area of expertise, cultural identity, or lived experience.
- Are willing to engage and share their expertise/passion/work with ACES/Toklat community formally or informally.
2026 Professional Wilderness Residencies at Toklat
Residency Period: January 2026, April 2026, October 2026
Applications Open: July 1, 2025
Application Deadline: August 15, 2025
Residencies Awarded: October 1, 2025
Residencies must be completed in the year they are awarded. We are unable to carry residencies over to subsequent years.
Our selection committee includes members of ACES Staff and ACES Toklat Committee.
Location & Setting
Toklat has a rich history built upon rustic simplicity and self-reliance. While the area offers many amenities, the Toklat Residency is best suited for individuals whose efforts will thrive in the relative quiet and isolation of the place.
Toklat is located 12 miles upstream of Aspen, Colorado near the end of Castle Creek Road. The road is paved and well maintained. Access to the area is frequently serviced by county snow plows, however a vehicle with 4wd/awd and winter tires is imperative from Oct thru April. Please note, the valley is typically draped in snow from October through April and it can snow any month of the year at Toklat.
Toklat is relatively isolated at 9,500 feet elevation and adjacent to the Ashcroft Ghost Town. It is nestled amidst thousands of acres of National Forest and Wilderness offering ample opportunities for hiking, nordic skiing, and snowshoeing. Additionally, it is a frequent destination for backcountry skiers and cyclists. The area is also home to Ashcroft Ski Touring, Pine Creek Cookhouse, and the Braun Hut System.
Application Process
ACES Professional Wilderness Residencies are awarded for the months of January, April, and October of each year. The application cycle opens for all three periods on July 1st. Applications for 2026 Residencies will go live on this page on July 1, 2025. Completed forms must be submitted no later than midnight (MST) on August 15, 2025 to be considered by our selection committee. All 2026 Residencies will be awarded by October 1, 2025.
Application Elements
Candidates interested in a residency may apply using our online application.
Please be ready to provide:
- Bio
- Resume/CV
- Portfolio demonstrating examples of your artistic/scientific/humanistic expression.
- Description of your proposed project highlighting what outcomes or deliverables you expect from your residency, what social impact you expect from your residency, and why you feel Toklat will serve as an inspiration for your work.
Residency Provisions
Residents will be awarded a $2,500 stipend upon successful completion of their stay.
Residents are given lodging in Jessica’s Cabin, our 400 sq/ft Residency Cabin, constructed in 2024. The cabin is comfortably heated with a radiant wood floor. The cabin includes a twin-size daybed with twin trundle bed, dresser, table, and a reading chair. The cabin is ADA compliant and is located up a winding pathway above the main facility and adjacent to the caretaker’s residence.
Residents are provided an efficiency kitchenette in their cabin for basic food preparation. This includes: minifridge, microwave, double-burner hot plate, toaster oven, coffee maker, sink, and basic cooking and eating utensils.
Residents will have access to laundry facilities in the staff’s quarters, showers in the main facility, and a chef’s kitchen is available with staff coordination. Residents may also have access to our chef’s kitchen when not in use by programming priorities.The Chef’s Kitchen includes a walk-in fridge, chest freezer, induction hot plates, chef’s oven, and commercial dishwasher. The chef’s kitchen is a place where participants will frequently engage with other Toklat staff.
Residents are welcome to engage with the main facility and the property. The main facility includes the Toklat Land Library, reading room, sun room, gallery art, potbelly stove, fireplace, garage and large screen projector. Outside amenities on the property include picnic tables, several decks, covered terrace, fire circle, little pond, wood-fired grill, and small creek.
Please note, all access and use outside of the Residency cabin is dependent upon ACES site calendar, program needs, and public hours – all of which may vary by day, week, and month.
The Residency program is administered by ACES Director of Naturalist Programs and Director of Community Programs. Residents are supported onsite by the Toklat Staff and by ACES community throughout their stay.
CLICK HERE for Site Photos.
Residency Guidelines
Residencies are intended to be working retreats. Spouses/partners, guests, and pets are not permitted to stay with the Resident.
Residents are responsible for providing and preparing their own food.
Residents are responsible for providing their own transportation to and from Toklat for the duration of their stay. Support may be provided by an ACES Ambassador, including Staff, Board of Directors, or Volunteers on a limited basis when available.
Residents are responsible for any supplies they may need during their residency.
Residents will be expected to dedicate the majority of their time to their project.
Residents are encouraged to engage, formally and informally, with our staff community, program participants, and the public to a comfortable degree.
Upon awarding a residency opportunity, ACES will provide a contract agreement that details the expectations of the Resident and of ACES. This signed document will cover liability, deliverables, and all details outlined above.
CLICK HERE for Contract Example.
Toklat History
Toklat (an Inuit word meaning “headwaters”) was originally built by Stuart and Isabel Mace in 1948 as a wilderness lodge and family home. The dog sled center, small lodge, restaurant, and art gallery, set amidst a pristine sub-alpine valley, made for long tales around the hearth and drew visitors from all over the world.
Together, Stuart and Isabel actively nurtured growth in others. The Mace family home at Toklat became a community, a foundational spring and source of inspiration for countless individuals both in deep residence and in brief passing. For decades, the Toklat experience inspired excellence. Aside from the contributing artists of the Toklat Gallery, musicians and sculptors, composers and poets, performers and chefs, woodworkers and photographers, writers and naturalists have integrated their experience at Toklat into their own lives and work.
Stuart Mace was a founding trustee of ACES as well as the organization’s original Educator and Naturalist. As a guiding mentor to its first directors, Jody and Tom Cardamone, Stuart wished for Toklat to someday become a part of ACES. With the support of Jessica and Henry Catto and many others, ACES purchased Toklat in 2004 to preserve its legacy as a community cornerstone. The center is now known as the Catto Center at Toklat.
Catto Center at Toklat Today
In 2021, ACES began an extensive restoration of Toklat. Today the 3-acre site includes a residency cabin, caretaker cabin and 8,000 sq/ft retreat center with indoor meeting and presentation spaces, historic library, art gallery, a chef’s kitchen, public bathrooms, camping grounds, hiking and snowshoeing trails, outdoor gathering areas, decks, and a fire pit. The site is often compared to Thoreau’s Walden Pond, Leopold’s Shack, or the Murie’s Ranch as a significant place to the American conservation movement. The Catto Center at Toklat now serves as a “window into wildness,” a retreat for cultural and ecological discourse. Beyond the traditional nature center, the Catto Center at Toklat challenges the visitor to participate in a deeper inquiry, exploring the historical, cultural, philosophical, and spiritual roots of human relationships with the natural world.
ACES frequently hosts small groups of 5-25 people for retreats, community workshops and school field programs with occasional larger gatherings. We also maintain open hours to the public which vary by day and season. We welcome Residents to engage with our staff community, program participants, and the public to a comfortable degree.
