Urban Ecology & Conservation Symposium 2026

March 16th 2026

Please save the date for the next symposium, March 16th 2026, In Person at PSU Smith Memorial Student Union, 1825 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201

Abstact admissions are open through January 11th 2026

Keynote Speakers:

Roy Iwai
Roy Iwai is an environmental scientist and stormwater manager with Multnomah County, and a co-chair of the Board of Directors with the Sandy River Watershed Council. He led the formation and direction of the Clean Rivers Coalition to create the first statewide clean water outreach campaign in Oregon, Follow the Water. He formed and chairs the Oregon 6PPDq Working Group, a voluntary collaborative partnership of local, state and federal agencies and non-profit organizations, to reduce the impacts of toxic tire dust on native fishes. Roy also led the re-formation of the Sandy River Watershed Council, as a place-based and equity-centered organization. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, and a Master’s of Science degree in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, with research in wetland biogeochemistry. He is a co-author of The American Highway: Two Voices - 30 Days, 30 States, and 9,000 Miles, a motorcycle travelogue.

Keynote: The heart of collaboration in conservation: is it ecology or culture?

As environmental scientists and conservation specialists, we tend to center our collaborations on the science or knowledge that guide the work. We do not often consider that collaboration is about the people who practice the restoration techniques and the values they hold. Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of this work, such that the shared understanding of the diverse values help build the relationships between the people in the collaboration and their attitudes toward the work. However, personal, cultural and organizational values are often overlooked because we do not have the language to describe the culture we share as a group. Success in working with a diverse group of people - and a diverse group of organizations - depends not only on the understanding of the technical knowledge we share, but of the values we share. As our behaviors and beliefs are manifest from our values, the way we work together - how we collaborate - can be described more accurately as a practice of sharing cultural values, or as the creation of “cultural unity.” 

Pamela Slaughter

Pamela Slaughter is the Executive Director and Founder of People of Color Outdoors (POCO), a Portland-based nonprofit that has grown from 495 members in 2020 to over 8,000 members today. Under her leadership, POCO has become an impactful voice in environmental justice and outdoor equity, creating inclusive outdoor experiences and environmental education programming for communities historically excluded from natural spaces. Pamela delivered a TEDx talk in April 2025 on children as environmental leaders and is passionate about supporting people of all ages who want to find a way to help take care of the world we live in.

Keynote: People of Color Outdoors

People of Color Outdoors (POCO) Founder, Pamela Slaughter, will share how POCO evolved from offering 30 outings in 2020 to 95 in 2025 across Portland's urban natural areas, and more importantly, how the organization discovered that access alone does not create environmental stewards.

This presentation explores the impact of POCO's environmental education program, which evolved from a summer-only outdoor program to the current year-round POCO Guardians program at Columbia Cottage. Through specific examples, Pamela will demonstrate how regular exposure to environmental professionals and outdoor experiences changes urban children's beliefs and values, leading some to take action on topics they've come to care about, from advocating for native species protection to teaching others about invasive species. How does sustained engagement in urban ecosystems, rather than one-time outdoor experiences, build the next generation of environmental stewards our cities urgently need? How can every one of us contribute to creating the next generation of environmental stewards and leaders?

Urban Ecology & Conservation Symposium 2025

March 17th 2025

Thank you for a successful symposium! Presentation materials are being posted to PDX Scholar as permitted by the authors.

In Person at PSU Smith Memorial Student Union, 1825 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201

Keynote Speakers:

Gabe Sheoships Executive Director of the Friends of Tryon Creek

Friends of Tryon Creek is a 54-year-old 501©(3) organization dedicated to environmental and cultural education, community engagement, workforce pathways, and ecological restoration within the 670-acre urban forest space of SW Portland and Lake Oswego, Oregon, in partnership with Oregon State Parks.  Under his leadership, the organization recognizes and values the Indigenous narrative and relationship with the landscape. The organization serves the forest and human community through the framework of an Indigenous worldview. Relationships and connection are central to program focus, empowering youth, families and adults through forest experiences, shared knowledge, and pathways to reconnection. Tryonfriends.org

The inspiration behind this work is to support future generations of environmental stewards to address contemporary issues such as climate change and the decline of Indigenous First Foods, through multiple knowledge bases. With a background in fisheries ecology, Gabe has spent two decades focused on the forests, waterways, and mountains of the Columbia River Basin.

Gabe is a co-founder of the Oregon Land Justice Project, and a board member of Ecotrust.

Gabe is Cayuse, a Citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He most enjoys spending time with family and friends.

Dr. Leslie P. King
Portland State University Lecturer
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commissioner

Dr Leslie King is a medical doctor with public health and environmental health expertise.  She has lived and worked on all six inhabited continents and sought to demonstrate the connection between the environment and human health in all her professional roles.  She currently teaches both medicine and environmental sciences in Portland, OR where she also serves as a Commissioner for the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife.

A link to Dr. King’s story map from her presentation is now available with her abstract.

Urban Ecology & Conservation Symposium 2024

March 11th 2024

In Person at Reed College (3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland, OR 97202).

Keynote Speakers:

Dr. Sara Petrita Bombaci, assistant professor with the Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. Her multidisciplinary research blends conservation science and social science to explore how ecological systems interact with social and environmental gradients in pursuit of innovative solutions to conserve biodiversity while meeting diverse human needs.  Her current research areas include acoustic ecology, urban ecology, community-centered conservation, and human-wildlife interactions. Dr. Bombaci also has over a decade of experience conducting research, teaching, and outreach to foster greater equity and inclusion in STEM. Dr. Bombaci received both her master's and PhD degrees at Colorado State University. She is a Latina Scientist, an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, Ford Fellow, and National Geographic Explorer.

Dr. Mason Fidino, quantitative ecologist with the Conservation & Science Department at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois. Mason’s research, for the most part, is in biodiversity informatics. He integrates large and complex data sources, develops new quantitative techniques, and uses high-performance computing to determine how biodiversity responds to environmental change across multiple spatiotemporal scales. Mason is especially interested in understanding ecological principles in urban environments and, through their research, looks for ways to leverage the vast data sources that exist in cities to answer pressing social-ecological issues. In addition to their own research, Mason serves as the analytics advisor for the Urban Wildlife Information Network—the world’s first multi-city biodiversity-monitoring network designed to systematically connect ecological findings across cities.

Urban Ecology & Conservation Symposium 2023

April 4th 2023

In Person at Portland State University

Keynote Speakers:

Dr. Steward Pickett, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

Diego Ellis Soto, Yale University Center for Biodiversity and Global Change

Financial Supporters

Urban Ecology & Conservation Symposium 2022

March 7 -8, 2022

Virtual

Keynote Speakers:

David G. Lewis, PhD, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies, Oregon State University

Alan Yeakley, PhD | Professor and Chair, Department of Geography & Environmental Systems, University Of Maryland Baltimore County