Sunset at Suisun Marsh along Grizzly Island Road, March 2003. Source: Calif. Dept. of Water Resources

One of the best minds of the Delta and its most devoted advocate has left us.  Alex Hildebrand passed away Monday at the venerable age of 98.

Alex cared deeply for the land and the water of the South Delta, living his life and tending his farm in sync with the rise and fall of the waters.  With his long life and sharp mind, Alex became the chronicler of change in the Delta and the Central Valley.  If you wanted to know how things work in the Delta and why things changed, your source of wisdom was Alex.  If you needed new ideas for how to manage this change, Alex was your best source.  His knowledge and understanding were without peer.  And he was always a gracious gentleman.

The staff, faculty, and colleagues of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis wish to express our sympathies to the family of Alex Hildebrand.  All of us, to an individual, admired and respected him greatly.

Thank you, Alex.

Jeff Mount, Jay Lund, Ellen Hanak, Peter Moyle