Meet Hanne Beener, Executive Director of the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust

For nearly two decades, Hanne Beener has dedicated her career to protecting the landscapes and communities of North Central Washington. Now serving as the Executive Director of the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust, Beener brings both deep roots in the region and years of hands-on experience in conservation, recreation planning, and nonprofit leadership.

In this conversation, she shares how her upbringing in rural Ferry County shaped her perspective, why the Land Trust’s work matters more than ever, and how balancing community needs with long-term conservation goals requires patience, partnerships, and vision.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share a bit about your background? 

I value a deep sense of place in the world, and my identity is grounded in having grown up and spent the majority of my life in eastern Washington State. I still proudly call Ferry County in northeastern Washington one of my homes, though the greater Wenatchee Valley has been another home now for over 15 years. I have built a life centered around my family in Leavenworth with my partner, who grew up there. I’ve enhanced my education from University of Idaho with years of field work on our public lands, and previously worked at the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust for a decade in land and public access management. More recently, I worked for another local non-profit, TREAD, focused on outdoor recreation planning and policy. 

Please tell our readers about the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust.

The Chelan-Douglas Land Trust has been filling a role in our community for 40 years now—since 1985, people have seen the value of the innovative work we do to make sure strategic open spaces and naturally functioning lands are protected for wildlife habitat and other conservation values, and public benefit. Many people know the Land Trust for the work we do to provide for trails and access to open space in the Wenatchee Foothills, but we also work with partners to protect increasingly rare and critical property along our many rivers for salmon habitat, to manage our forested lands for climate resiliency and forest health, and to protect working lands that encompass and are adjacent to important shrub steppe ecosystems. It is important that the Land Trust represents what is important to people in our region, because as a non-profit, the organization relies on the incredible generosity of our donors and local philanthropic sources to fund our work. The Land Trust works with local governments to ensure growth occurs in balance with conservation of lands and waters that complete a thriving part of the world here in North Central WA.

What led you to conservation work?

Growing up in a rural area with parents who demonstrated dedication to managing their land for both livestock and habitat, and who were committed to living their lives as lightly on the land as possible was my first introduction to the importance of conservation work. Before I began working at the Land Trust originally, I spent a lot of time flying over the topography of North Central WA, and I realized how our region is very geographically small, but the diversity of landscapes and ecosystems packed into this small area is tremendous. It became very important to me to do work that ensured these diverse areas and the connections between them continued to exist.

What drew you to the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust initially, and what has kept you invested over the years?

When I first started working at the Land Trust in 2013, I was eager to work outside in beautiful places for such a well-established and widely respected organization. I remain committed to the Land Trust many years later because the organization is clearly meeting needs for community-supported conservation and land stewardship for habitat restoration and public access to open spaces. The organization is nimble, innovative, and invested in strong partnerships across the region, allowing it to respond effectively to opportunities, challenges, and community interest.

What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned in conservation leadership?

As CDLT’s Conservation Director Mickey Fleming says, ‘land conservation takes a long time.’ Years of investing in building relationships based in trust with funders, landowners, neighbors and other stakeholders are often integral to making a land protection project ultimately successful. 

But the act of conserving a property is only the start. The Land Trust commits to protection in perpetuity, meaning forever. Long-term land stewardship and public access management is expensive and challenging to find dedicated durable sources of funding to support—especially in the face of natural disasters, conversion of adjacent lands, and increased recreation use. 

Investing in strong partnerships is critical to the Land Trust’s success in land conservation and longterm stewardship. Our partnerships with local governments, community service organizations, and other habitat project and land managers open new sources of funding for our work, increase cross-boundary land management efficiencies, and ensure the work we’re doing is community-supported.

Lastly, finding common ground that connects our work and the value of conservation and open space to the widest possible audience is the best guarantee for the longterm success of conservation efforts in our region. We have learned that conservation work is most effective when all members of our communities share a sense of belonging and stewardship.

How do you balance long-term environmental goals with the day-to-day demands of running a nonprofit?

The Land Trust has an excellent staff and Board of Directors that work together to determine the long-term strategic goals of the organization, and the staff develops workplans that will make progress toward those goals. We check in against those guideposts often to ensure we’re on track. We work with partners to understand new science or policies that might affect our land management practices, and we update our actions as appropriate. There are always opportunities and challenges that come up in the immediate, but consistent planning documents help us cut through the noise and determine what’s important.

What are some recent conservation or restoration projects you’re particularly proud of?

One public access project that is near and dear to me was the development of the Saddle Rock Trails Plan, which finally delivers on a longtime commitment of the Land Trust to improve trails and access at our beloved community icon, Saddle Rock. CDLT Trails Project Manager, Ryan Graig, has really been working diligently to begin implementing the plan on the ground. You’ll see great improvements to the trail system below the east face of Saddle Rock connecting to Jacobson Preserve starting this fall, and we’ll be looking for time and support from the community to keep the momentum going for continued improvements in the years to come.

Another big project for the Land Trust has been continued forest health treatments at our Mountain Home Ridge property above Leavenworth. This work started in 2019 and has involved fuel reduction and prescribed fire. The result is a healthier forest and reducing risk for wildfire spread potential to neighboring properties and homes.

What are the biggest environmental or land-use challenges currently facing Chelan and Douglas Counties?

There are a lot of potential good uses of the land base in our region. Important issues that keep coming up are affordable housing developments, keeping working lands working, preserving access to our public lands, and development that brings economic benefit to the region. Finding the right place for each of these important initiatives takes a lot of public engagement, planning and coordination between jurisdictions. 

We continue to see hotter temperatures, warmer rivers, dry summers, and longer fire (and smoke) seasons. I think one of our challenges is to ensure we are making decisions in the face of the effects of climate change with a broad perspective: we must consider how we can reduce negative impacts of these conditions on our human residents, particularly vulnerable populations. We must also consider how to use our resources efficiently for longterm sustainability. And we must consider how we can preserve the rich diversity of natural landscapes and the keystone species within them to ensure the best possible chance for adaptive, resilient, thriving natural systems in the future.

What’s on the horizon for CDLT? Any upcoming initiatives or long-term goals you’re excited about?

The Land Trust is embarking on developing a new strategic plan in the coming year. I’m curious to learn from community members what they think the Land Trust should be focusing on, and I’m excited to partner with the staff and Board to see how we can practically deliver on community interests within the capacity and scope of our mission. The Land Trust has a recognized body of good work it has done in the community, and I know we will build on this in ways that continue to serve our region well.

The Land Trust is also working on a new land protection project as part of our longstanding partnership with the City of Wenatchee. What would be known as the Lookout Natural Area is located on an arm of Burch Mountain above Sunnyslope, and would be the first City Natural Area north of the Wenatchee River. It’s a critical open space close to home for residents of the Wenatchee Valley that provides connectivity to thousands of acres of public land beyond. We’re working on securing funding to both acquire the property and develop a trailhead and non-motorized multi-use public access routes.

What keeps you inspired in this work?

The people that I get to interact with. I am impressed and humbled by the expertise and investment the Land Trust staff bring to their work everyday. I am grateful for the Board of Directors who dedicate untold time to ensuring the organization is well-represented and successful. I am inspired by my conversations with partners, trail users, longtime residents, visitors to the area, our members, and people who have never heard of the Land Trust before.

How can people get involved or support the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust’s mission?

Start by visiting us at our office at 18 N Wenatchee Ave, or finding us online at www.cdlandtrust.org. Our Community Inclusion Coordinator, Ayla Medina Ulloa, curates a year-round offering of diverse ways you can engage with the Land Trust through outings and volunteer opportunities.

What do you like to do with your free time?

I adore spending time with my family, usually by cajoling my kids to do things I know they will someday appreciate: skiing at Mission Ridge or the Nordic trails in Leavenworth, hiking and backpacking on our public lands, and taking in rodeos around the region. I also find it extremely satisfying to wander through the eastern slopes of the Cascades, wherever I might find ponderosas and pine grass.