Alan Ehrgott was always drawn to the great outdoors. As the quintessential latchkey kid, he would oftentimes go on long forays into the nearby San Gabriel Mountains while his parents were at work. “My parents let me be a wild kid,” he recalls. “Even though my family on the paternal side were engineers, I was more interested in the natural world and how animals survived on urban fringes.” 

Ehrgott didn’t take the most conventional route to a career in nature conservation, however. In his younger days, he was something of a jack of all trades, working as a rafting guide, then as the owner of a bed and breakfast, and a hot air balloon pilot. Interestingly, it was during one of those overland trips in his balloon when he realized something had to be done to protect the American River Watershed. “Bulldozers started revving up their engines,” he recalls. “I would see it on a daily basis.”

For over 30 years, he’s been the executive director of the American River Conservancy, and he couldn’t be prouder of everything the organization has accomplished so far. Most recently, they acquired over 10,000 acres of land to be rehabilitated for wilderness or public use. And while his work has many challenges, for Ehrgott, seeing people live in harmony with their environment makes it all worthwhile. “It’s a win-win scenario for everybody,” he attests. “Open space and trails help our area to be an economically healthy and attractive place to live.”   

Article by Amber Foster // photos by Dante Fontana

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