Sheriff’s office confirms death was prominent local conservationist
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DRIGGS — Joselin Matkins, the executive director for the Teton Regional Land Trust in Driggs and a regional conservational leader died Friday, Teton County Sheriff deputies confirmed Saturday.
Matkins was found in the North Leigh Creek area north of Hatch’s Corner in Tetonia by Teton County Search and Rescue after she was reported missing late the same morning. She was missing for seven hours before she was found with the assistance of a Air Idaho Rescue helicopter flight team at 6:55 p.m.
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Teton County Coroner Tim Melcher confirmed the cause of death was suicide.
Matkins served as the executive director for the land trust for the last six years after serving as the Land Protector Director at the nonprofit since 2013. Last summer she was awarded the Dawn Banks Nonprofit Leadership Award from the Community Foundation of Teton Valley recognizing her as having, “Devoted her career to the preservation and conservation of the environment.”
As a leading conservationist in Teton Valley, she collaborated with other nonprofits on the Teton Creek Corridor Project while leading the preservation of thousands of acres of land reaching from Roberts to Ashton, Swan Valley to Driggs and into Teton County, Wyoming.
In addition to her work at the Land Trust, Matkins served on a variety of regional boards. She was currently serving as the board president of the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, a Montana Based non profit that works with 26 other land trusts in Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. She was also a board member for the Idaho Coalition of Lands Trusts and served with Teton County Idaho Search and Rescue.
Matkins grew up in Ketchum and graduated from the Wood River High School.