REMEMBERING ALEX DIEKMANN week before he would have turned 53. A
I still can’t believe he’s gone. Thinking about him, I’ve been wrestling with this question: In the highest public sense—in the way we strive to be good neighbors, engaged citizens, patriots, joint stakeholders in the future of the world our kids will inherit—what does “in perpetuity” mean? Alex delighted in providing answers by taking you to places on maps, reminding you that you—we—hold title to the deed. He wasn’t widely known outside Bozeman, but the work
Alex did for The Trust for Public Land in greater Yellowstone and the Rockies was extraordinary. He graduated from Yale, where he was a nationally ranked varsity swimmer, and went on to earn a master’s from UCLA. Along the way, he worked on Wall Street and brokered real estate in Seattle. He was an unrivaled deal-maker. He could have easily become a cocky hotshot. Instead, he discovered conservation. Lucky for us. Ten years ago, I was hiking with Alex and his then-eight- year-old son, Logan, through a rugged valley called the Taylor Fork. The drainage is a passageway for wildlife, including elk moving seasonally between the Gallatin Range and Madison Valley.
“Isn’t this place great?” Alex said. “We’re standing at the spot where it all comes together.” “Who owns this land, Dad?” Logan asked. “You do,” Alex said. “We do. We all do.”
I was there to research a story about land purchases and exchanges to protect the Taylor Fork—transactions in which Alex was instrumental. The deal consolidated public owner- ship, preventing the valley from becoming checkered with development. The Taylor Fork alone would have made Alex’s career, but it was just the beginning. In 16 years, he would oversee 55 projects that conserved more than 100,000 acres for the public.
64 · LAND&PEOPLE · SPRING/SUMMER 2016
lex and I were the same age, living on the same street, raising kids who went to the same schools. He died from a rare form of cancer in February, a
Trust for Public Land Project Manager Alex Diekmann
Rancher Jeff Laszlo collaborated with Alex to protect O’Dell Creek, a habitat critical for trout and trumpeter swans. He says the agreements Alex forged solidified the Madison Valley as a miracle of open space protection in the West. Fly-fisher and conservationist Craig Mathews ranks Alex among the greatest protectors of public land our region has ever seen. Whitefish, Montana Mayor John Muhlfeld cites Alex’s nego- tiations with a lumber company to protect the source of his town’s drinking water. Alan Front, one of Alex’s former col- leagues, says that Alex, by force of personality, financial savvy, and charm, completed land deals that no one else could. Alex’s fans included the late U.S. Senator Craig Thomas
of Wyoming, who worked with him to safeguard land on the flanks of the Bighorn Mountains, and former U.S. Senator Conrad Burns of Montana. Both senators served on Capitol Hill as Republicans, but Alex always said that when it comes to experiencing nature with loved ones, politics don’t matter. “So often you read about intractable environmental prob-
lems,” Alex said as we wandered the Taylor Fork a decade ago. “But protection of the greater Yellowstone region is about finding win-win solutions. We have a lot of work to do, but I’m optimistic. You have to be optimistic if you want to accom- plish anything worthwhile.”
Every one of us wants to do something that will outlive us.
Alex wasn’t seeking immortality or accolades for his efforts; he believed in public lands and access to them. He invited us to think beyond generations for the public good. He showed us what “in perpetuity” means. My dear friend’s spirit is re- flected in the extraordinary parts of terra firma he protected.
todd wilkinson has been writing about the environment for 30 years. he is author of several books, including grizzlies of pilgrim creek, an intimate portrait of 399, the most famous bear of greater yellowstone.
photo courtesy the diekmann family
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