BIOGRAPHIES

Heather Bacher
Executive Director

Heather Bacher has been the Executive Director of the Central Indiana Land Trust since 2003.  As the Executive Director of the Land Trust, Heather provides leadership and support to the Board of Directors and is responsible for administering and implementing all programs, policies, and goals of the Land Trust.  She oversees the day-to-day activities of the organization and the management of the staff, office and properties.  She is active in the community and serves on the Johnson County Comprehensive Plan Update Steering Committee, the Steering Committee of the Eagle Creek Watershed Alliance and as a board member of the Upper White River Watershed Alliance. 

Heather has worked in conservation for 14 years in both the government and nonprofit sectors. At the international Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, she worked to promote the conservation of birds in the Gulf Coast region in North and Central America and the Caribbean. Heather has also worked for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and The Nature Conservancy in both Texas and Indiana.  She has a master’s degree in environmental resource management and cultural ecology from The University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Johnson County with her husband, Bruce, and a house full of Newfoundland dogs.

Cliff Chapman
Conservation Director

Moving back to Indianapolis in 2008 for the position of Conservation Director with the Central Indiana Land Trust was a true homecoming. Cliff grew up in Indianapolis and explored every chunk of urban green space within a reasonable bike ride from home. After college he worked for the IDNR Division of Nature Preserves as a Regional Ecologist in southeast Indiana. While pursuing more effective and efficient methods of ecological restoration, Cliff also discovered dozens of occurrences of rare or endangered plant and animal species, and helped protect nearly 5,000 acres of forests, wetlands, and barrens in southern Indiana from 1999 to 2006.

In 2006 Cliff moved to Washington and worked for The Nature Conservancy helping restore prairies in the Puget Sound area as well as improve spawning habitat for several endangered salmon species. This work focused on controlling invasive species as well as research to find more “green” alternatives to traditional best management practices in rare species recovery and habitat restoration.

Rachel Cline Eble
Development Director

Rachel Eble joined the Land Trust staff in April 2010.  Her role with the Land Trust will focus on securing necessary resources to sustain the organization and preserve the best possible slice of Central Indiana.  As an Indiana native, Rachel feels particularly motivated to ensure that the creeks and woods she was fortunate to explore as a child will be there for the next generation.  She has worked in non-profit fundraising for over nine years.  Prior to joining the Land Trust, Rachel was the Director of Annual Fund & Donor Relations at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School.  Rachel graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2000.  Rachel and her husband, Nick, live in the Meridian Kessler area with their one-year-old son, Lance, and their two very large dogs.

Maria Steiner
Community Relations Director

Maria Steiner has been in the non-profit environmental sector for eleven years. She began as the Community Relations Coordinator for the Central Indiana Land Trust in March of 2005 and was promoted to Community Relations Director in 2007. Prior to joining the Land Trust, she was the Director of Urban Forestry Initiatives for another local organization, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful. Maria also spent two summers working as a Youth Conservation Corps Crew Leader in Yellowstone National Park. She has an Environmental Biology degree from the University of Dayton. Some of her professional affiliations include four years as a Board Member of the Indiana Urban Forest Council, a graduate of the Purdue University Natural Resources Leadership Development Institute, and current Board Member and Secretary of Earth Day Indiana.