Carrie Besnette Hauser – Lessons from a Life Serving People and Places

Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser is President and CEO of the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit that does everything from massive landscape protection projects to pocket parks in big cities, all built around a simple idea: land for people. I've wanted to have Carrie on the podcast for a long time, and we finally made it happen in person at El Pomar's Penrose House here in Colorado Springs. She's one of the most accomplished, grounded, and genuinely fun people I've talked to in a while, and her résumé is so packed I honestly don't know how she's fit it all into one career. Carrie grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona, hiking into the Grand Canyon with her dad, which eventually led to summers working for one of the canyon's most storied river companies. She planned on law school but instead earned a PhD in higher education public policy at UCLA. From there, she was one of the first employees to help build the Daniels Fund from scratch, served in leadership at Metropolitan State University of Denver, and spent nearly 11 years as President and CEO of Colorado Mountain College. Along the way, she chaired the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission during wolf reintroduction planning and somehow found time to climb all of Colorado's 14ers. Carrie and I talked about growing up in Flagstaff, the lessons she learned helping build one of the largest foundations in the Rockies, and how she stays grounded in roles that come with real influence. We dug into what makes Colorado Mountain College so unique, what she learned about the urban/rural divide while chairing CPW, TPL's goal of putting every American within a 10-minute walk of a park, its incredible schoolyard transformation work, and Colorado's Proposition 137, which voters will decide on in just a few days. We wrapped up with some great book recommendations, including a couple from Ken Salazar and Kevin Fedarko. I really enjoyed this one, and I think you will too. Enjoy! --- Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser Trust for Public Land Prop 137 Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/carrie-hauser --- THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, Patagonia Books, the Mighty Arrow Family Foundation for their generous sponsorship. --- TOPICS DISCUSSED: 0:00 - Introducing Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser 3:27 - Growing up in Flagstaff 9:33 - College plan 18:53 - What Carrie learned 25:57 - Staying grounded 30:21 - Colorado Mountain College 36:01 - Making mountain communities run 42:49 - Being there for the community 46:15 - Leaving the college 51:11 - The value of a park 59:01 - The benefits of a schoolyard 1:02:37 - Prop 137 1:08:05 - It just makes sense 1:10:06 - Book recs 1:17:03 - Wrapping up --- ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE: Mountain & Prairie - All Episodes Mountain & Prairie Shop Mountain & Prairie on Instagram Upcoming Events About Ed Roberson Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts