Dear club members,

I regret that I won’t be present for the club’s visit. I wanted to take a moment to share some news, in case you hadn’t heard yet—David Myers, the founder and president of Wildlands, has passed away. I’ve attached links to articles honoring him in The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. David had been battling Parkinson’s, and he is now at peace.

David was a visionary, and the impact of his conservation work will be felt for generations. I first met David during my interview for a position 18 years ago when I joined Frazier Haney in the task of transforming the Whitewater Trout Farm into Whitewater Preserve. Over the nearly two decades that followed, David became a close friend and mentor.

The conservation outcomes realized under David’s leadership are staggering. In the transition between the San Bernardino Mountains and the Mojave Desert alone, Wildlands protected over 60,000 acres in what he called “the Sand to Snow Project.” In the Mojave Desert, Wildlands protected over 580,000 acres and led the charge to establish Mojave Trails National Monument (1.6 million acres) and Sand to Snow National Monument (154,000 acres). The conservancy’s preserve system now spans the length of the state and we’re now in Utah and Oregon. We’ve got our sights set on the central coast and Arizona.

Getting to know David, it was clear that he answered to a higher calling. He believed that the beauty of nature speaks to the hearts of all people and that in wild places, we are closest to our most inspired selves. He also believed that access to nature should be free—and that no one needed that access more than children. It has been deeply profound to meet volunteers at the preserve who first visited on school field trips—trips this club helps make possible.

When I reflect on the times we are living in, I think of how David approached adversity. Whenever he faced a difficult challenge, he would take to the trail and let higher forces of insight weigh in on the problem. He never lost sight of the fact that the great environmental challenges we face are solved in community. He always knew that together, we would wear down obstacles—one footstep at a time. Not with crushing, stomping feet, but with the graceful strides that wear in a trail over the passage of years… the way rocks are smoothed by a river.

Like most people who have lost someone close, I’m struck by how life simply moves on, no matter how I feel about it. The current of time doesn’t collapse or even slow down. Be that as it may, I still wake up each morning and feel David’s spirit as a shining figure on the landscape. The gifts he gave now rest in our hands. After nearly two decades in this work, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that land is never saved—it is always being saved. David has passed us a fiercely burning torch, and together, we’ll shine it into the future.

I hope your time at Whitewater is sublime and that your spirits are renewed by rejoicing in each other’s presence. Till next time…happy trails.

Jack