Longtime Juneau resident Kathy Benner will take over as the executive director of the American Bald Eagle Foundation (ABEF) in March. Benner has worked with birds for over 20 years, serving several administrative and bird-handling positions at the Juneau Raptor Center.
“I have a huge passion for bald eagles,” Benner said. “I spent over 25 years in Juneau taking care of them. I did rescue rehab and have literally handled hundreds of birds.”
In her time at the Juneau Raptor Center, Benner served as the manager, vice president, and had multiple positions on the board of directors.
“It’s been a passion of mine for a long, long time,” Benner said.
The position has been open since the previous executive director retired in September. Board member Carolyn Goolsby said the position was difficult to fill, as the Haines center was seeking someone with both administrative and raptor-handling experience.
“It’s a specialized field,” she said. “There aren’t millions of people in the country that do it. It’s hard to hire a director for the raptor center like that, especially requiring them to have (training) hours. Many centers don’t require hours. Our directors have always been involved in direct handling training with birds. That’s one of the unique things about the (American Bald Eagle Foundation) actually.”
It takes 500 hours of training to become a certified bird handler.
“It’s a very rigorous program that takes years to do,” Goolsby said.
Benner will have to “hit the ground running,” Goolsby said, as ABEF is “gearing up for a new summer season.” The first cruiseship of the season arrives on April 25.
“This is getting into the busy time when she comes in March,” she said. “She’ll be getting to know the staff and the birds and gearing up quickly for the summer season.”
Benner has been coming to Haines since the 2000s, bringing birds from Juneau’s raptor center for education programs. Juneau’s center handled more than 200 birds and 50 eagles a year, she said.
Benner will handle administrative tasks such as managing staff, directing, organizing, budgeting and planning. Although the role is administrative, Benner also has the qualifications to handle birds.
“If a bird is injured in Haines and needs to be rescued I can do that too,” she said.
Benner began volunteering with the raptor center in 1998. Being with birds “quickly took over as a passion,” she said.
“I loved all animals,” Benner said. “It wasn’t just a hyperfocus on birds. Coming from the east coast to Alaska and seeing eagles everywhere, I’m sure most people get that feeling… They’re special creatures and people are really fascinated by them. It’s just such a special thing.”
After struggling to buy a house in Juneau, she made the difficult decision to leave her job and buy a home in Wasilla. She was “devastated” to leave the raptor center, she said.
“It was the best job I ever had,” Benner said.
After just seven months in Wasilla, Benner applied for the Haines position. She is now selling her home and moving to Haines.
“Being able to come down here is a dream come true,” she said. “I get to continue on with my mission of educating people about bald eagle conservation. I’m really excited to get down there and get started.”
Benner said she and her husband look forward to living by the ocean and exploring new trails in Haines.
“We’re very outdoorsy,” Benner said. “We love nature and just the whole atmosphere of being in Southeast Alaska again.”