Enviropreneur Spotlight: Dieter Erdmann

John Batchelor interviews Enviropreneur Intitute fellow, Dieter Erdmann, about how Colorado Open Lands is driving cooperation with private landowners to preserve open lands with conservation easements. 

DIETER ERDMANN

Dieter Erdmann is the Director of Conservation Operations for Colorado Open Lands, where he is responsible for oversight and management of all of the statewide land-trusts’ conservation real-estate and habitat restoration projects. A veteran in the land conservation field, Dieter has worked with landowners of all descriptions to complete dozens of conservation easements preserving open spaces, stream corridors, agricultural land, and wildlife habitat. He has also facilitated land acquisitions for government agencies, established Colorado Open Lands’ GIS and habitat restoration programs, and has raised over $10M for conservation projects across Colorado. A native of New York’s Adirondack Mountains, Dieter received his undergraduate degree from Middlebury College in Vermont and attended graduate school at Colorado State University’s Warner College of Natural Resources. Dieter recently completed a fellowship with CSU’s Center for Collaborative Conservation where he explored leveraging private land conservation incentives with municipal investments to promote agricultural water sharing along Colorado’s Lower South Platte River in order to sustain agricultural communities while meeting the growing water demands of urban areas. In his free time, Dieter enjoys skiing, hiking, biking, camping, boating and fishing with his wife and two young sons.