September 14, 2021
By Brandt Mannchen
On September 5, 2021, Leo Alton Reitan died. Most people have not heard of Leo, but he did more with his individual work ethic and his money, which he used to do the most for conservation, than scores of people do during their lives. Leo was not a big talker, he was a big doer.
Leo came from Minnesota and served in the Army in the Korean War. He worked at the Johnson Space Center for 29 years and helped lead the Clear Creek Regional Group of the Sierra Club for many years.
I remember Leo best for his work on Marysee Prairie, the only restored tallgrass prairie in the Big Thicket, his generous donations to the Texas Land Conservancy, his timeless work with David Boyd to restore Virginia Point for Scenic Galveston, and for his efforts on behalf of the Katy Prairie.
I got to know Leo in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s as part of the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter’s and Houston Regional Group’s “Forest Watch” program. Leo believed in buying land, managing it with a light hand, and protecting the beauty and biological diversity that we have in Southeast Texas.
Leo, for many years, with Tom Maddux and Susan Schinke, protected and lived during the Summer on a 14 and one-half acre mountain property in Colorado in the Sangre de Christo Mountains on the boundary with the San Isabel National Forest. To say this was a beautiful refuge is an understatement.
Leo believed in conservation and environmental protection and showed his commitment with his own individual physical efforts and his financial generosity. Leo will be missed sorely. When Leo made up his mind, he was unrelenting in his personal integrity for the protection of all Earth’s landscapes.
Leo was like a strong, quiet, ranger who rode the range and forest and enjoyed and protected what he saw. Good-bye old hand, hope you have many more walks in Nature in the Big Sky above.