Anna Peterson

Executive Director

Anna Peterson joined the Mountain Pact as Executive Director in February 2018. Originally from Minnesota, she’s lived in many of the West’s rural mountain towns including Bend, Oregon, Missoula, Montana, and most recently in her current home of over fifteen years - Durango, Colorado.

Anna has worked professionally for over 20 years with a range of constituency groups, non-profits, small businesses, foundations, and large corporations on efforts focused on corporate social responsibility, anti-sweatshops, human rights, immigration, refugee rights, public health, public lands, national monuments, and climate change issues. She has worked in or with the outdoor recreation industry for the past fifteen years. Anna runs her own communications agency, Conservation Communications. 

Anna has worked on conservation efforts in all states across the American West, as well as in Minnesota and Florida. She has a BA in Studio Art, Political Science, and Environmental Studies from St.Olaf College, and a MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana where she was a Doris Duke Conservation Fellow.

When not working on conservation efforts, Anna spends time outside in and around the Four Corners area with her fellow conservationist and photographer husband Tim and loyal rescue dog Greta. She enjoys art and photography projects and is often working on (and continually expanding!) her family's high desert garden. She's an avid traveler and hopes to soon add to her long list of countries visited.

Hannah O’Reilly

Project Coordinator

As the Project Coordinator for The Mountain Pact, Hannah O’Reilly is excited to contribute to the conservation of public lands through the engagement of western communities. With a background in environmental sociology, Hannah is passionate about the intersections between the natural and human worlds and hopes to strengthen the connections between the two through her work. A vehement outdoor recreationist, she is particularly inspired by The Mountain Pact’s mission to empower places with outdoor recreation economies in the preservation of the landscapes that are so integral to their well-being. As it is these landscapes that draw people to these communities, Hannah believes that the protection of these places must be at the heart of how outdoor recreation economies should be overseen.

Before joining The Mountain Pact, Hannah investigated the impacts of the natural world on human well-being in the context of natural disaster as a qualitative research assistant for the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. She also spent the last year working on an analysis of demographic trends within western communities for the Conservation Lands Foundation. This project provided insight into the demographic character of the West, and inspired Hannah to orient her work around the sustainable management of public lands. In pursuit of this goal, she is currently earning her master’s degree in Environmental Policy from the CU Boulder. She also has a BA in Sociology from Northeastern University.

Outside of her work, Hannah loves to spend time in the mountains. She has lived in Colorado since 2015 and is an avid rock climber. She also loves to hike and ski and can be found camping during every month of the year.