Meet Heidi and Jeff

We’re big thinkers, community connectors, and project builders. We are driven by a dedication to thoughtful, healthy and holistic land use, and we value collaborative partnership as the ultimate tool in helping people, and organizations thrive.
Picture
Connector, collaborator, planner
Heidi Hannapel builds collaborative partnerships, bringing together ideas, people, and their lived experiences. She loves people's stories: what makes them passionate, what lessons they've learned, what inspires them. From her work designing workshops and resources for growing stronger land trusts in the South, Heidi developed an appreciation for the many ways in which people care for the natural resources in their communities. One example of caretaking people and land is through conservation burial. Heidi is passionate about the movement, and works to develop conservation burial projects around the country, while elevating the topic in presentations alongside partners, and at national conferences. She is co-founder of Bluestem Conservation Cemetery and a founding member of the Conservation Burial Alliance. 

​     Work and Nonprofit Experience
  • Bluestem Conservation Cemetery, Co-founder
  • Bluestem Community NC, Co-founder ​
  • FailFest, Co-founder and facilitator
  • Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association, ECWA Land Protection Specialist
  • Triangle Community Foundation, Environmental Grants Review Team; Community Park Planner ​
  • Conservation Burial Alliance, Co-founder
  • Durham County's Farm Campus Exploratory Committee, Member
  • Durham's Beaver Queen Pageant and Festival for the Eno, Volunteer
  • Scrap Exchange, Facilities Committee
  • Conservation Trust for North Carolina, Assembly Project Lead 
  • Funeral Consumers Alliance of the Piedmont, Member
  • Land Trust Alliance, Southeast Program Manager
  • Clerking Team at Durham Friends Meeting

Education
Heidi holds a BA in English from George Washington University and a Certificate in NonProfit Management from Duke University. 

Fun Fact
Heidi loves a good piece of pie and walking the Carolina woods with her Plott Hound. 
​Contact Heidi
Picture
Thinker, builder, budgeter
Jeff Masten partners with nonprofits and land trusts to integrate the public benefits of conservation with the growth of vibrant communities. Jeff's expertise is in creating and leading cutting-edge conservation programs and building partnerships to conserve and steward land in new and innovative ways. To date, he has protected more than 15,000 acres of land throughout the Triangle region valued at $151 million. Inspired by the opportunity to connect people with land on which their loved ones are buried, Jeff is growing the conservation burial movement with the development of Bluestem Conservation Cemetery and in planning other conservation burial projects around the country. Jeff's specialties include conservation burial site assessment, land and risk analyses, project development, financing models and funding opportunities for conservation acquisitions. He is co-founder of Bluestem Conservation Cemetery and a founding member of the Conservation Burial Alliance. 

​         Work and Nonprofit Experience
  • Bluestem Conservation Cemetery, Co-founder
  • Bluestem Community NC, Co-founder
  • Triangle Land Conservancy, Director of Conservation Strategies
  • Triangle Community Foundation, Environmental Grants Program; Community Park Planner
  • Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association,  ECWA Land Protection and Land Management Committees
  • Conservation Burial Alliance, Co-founder
  • Durham County's Farm Campus Exploratory Committee, Member
  • Conservation Trust for North Carolina, Land Protection Specialist
  • University of North Carolina and Duke University, Teaching Consultant
  • Funeral Consumers Alliance of the Piedmont, Member
  • Scrap Exchange, Facilities Committee

Education
Jeff holds a BS in Finance from Northeastern University and a Masters in City and Regional Planning with a focus on Land Use and Environmental Planning from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Fun Fact
Jeff hiked the Schwarzwald in Army boots and prefers wiener schnitzel over sauerbraten. Contact Jeff
Top photo: Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve, Newfield, New York
​Bottom photo: Conservation Project, Chatham County, North Carolina