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Executive Seminar Program Format

ESP centers around four seminars held during the program year. Three seminars of approximately one week each will be held on site to reconstruct cases.  A fourth, two-day session in the Portland area will conclude the program with a review of leadership principles, techniques for policy resolution and a summarization of insights gained by the participants.

The program team compile PSU faculty, prominent players who were involved in the case studies and other panel member to provide oversight and emphasize leadership principles, sound public administration practice and ways to improve policy outcomes.

Past Seminar Topics

  • Exxon Valdez oil spill - 20 years later
  • Superfund asbestos-contaiminated vermiculite clean-up in Libby, MT
  • Sea lion and salmon conflicts in the Lower Clumbia River
  • De-listing of the grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park
  • Tribal governance and natural resources management
  • Wind energy development in the Columbia Gorge
  • Wild horse management on public lands
  • Killer whale recovery in the Salish Sea
  • Klamath basin restoration agreements

Past Participating Organizations

  • Bonneville Power Administration
  • Bureau of Land Management
  • Bureau of Reclamation
  • Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
  • Environmental Protection Agency
  • International Paper Company
  • Lone Rock Timber
  • Montana State Forester Office
  • National Marine Fisheries Service
  • National Park Service
  • Natural Resource Conservation Service
  • Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
  • Oregon Department of Forestry
  • Oregon Forest Industries Council
  • Port of Portland
  • Portland Water Bureau
  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
  • U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
  • U.S. Forest Service
  • U.S. Soil Conservation Service
  • WA Department of Ecology
  • WA Department of Natural Resources

Professional development of agency staff is a top priority for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Executive Seminar Program has provided an outstanding leadership training opportunity for agency employees.  The live case studeies allow participants to examine all aspects of highly controversial natural resource issues, and gain from the experiences of others in collaboratively resolving those issues.  ODFW often plays a key role in the outcome of major decisions affecting natural resources, and employees that have completed ESP are better equipped to provide the vision and leadership to help forge effective solutions and policy.  The Executive Leadrship Institute is providing a much needed service for the divers stakeholders involved in natural resource management.

- Roy Elicker
Director, Fish and Wildlife Programs
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife