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EDR BLOG


The Wallace Stegner Center’s Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) Program fosters a culture of collaboration around environmental, natural resource, and broader public policy issues by helping people be more skillful in working through conflict. In particular, we focus on building capacity for collaboration through training, thought leadership, and collaboration assistance and advising.

The EDR blog advances our mission by sharing key ideas, concepts, resources, tools, and lessons learned related to conflict and collaboration. Blog posts are written by EDR program staff and partners and are carefully curated to focus on timely and relevant topics.

New blogs are generally posted once each month. For notifications of new blogs, please join the Environmental Dispute Resolution Program email list.

 

Understanding and identifying different kinds of interests

Jul 01, 2025

When navigating conflict and collaborating—and in life in general—one of the most important things we can do to set ourselves up for success is to focus on interests and not positions.

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How to share the gift of centering and self-regulation (including with potentially skeptical audiences)

Jun 01, 2025

I firmly believe based on two decades of doing conflict resolution work and a lot of research that practicing self-regulation ourselves and helping others do so as well is one of the most important gifts we can give ourselves and the world.

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My survival guide for these “interesting times”

May 01, 2025

In these times of major uncertainty and rapid change, most of us—no matter our political orientation, values, or beliefs—are worried about shifts that could affect the things we love and care about. Some of us are already feeling the impacts. Here are a few insights that are my “survival guide” for navigating these wild times.

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How to find a Big-F facilitator

Apr 01, 2025

In this blog, which is the second in a series on facilitation, we discuss how to find and work with a Big-F facilitator.

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What is a facilitator and what do they do?

Mar 01, 2025

The EDR program team has been getting a lot of questions about facilitation. In this blog, which is the first in a series on facilitation, we explain what facilitation is, why it matters, the differences between small-f and Big-F facilitation, and what small-f and Big-F facilitators do.

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La Sal Sustainability Collaboration: Conflict competence in action

Feb 01, 2025

My last project with the Wallace Stegner Center’s EDR program was facilitating the La Sal Sustainability Collaboration (LSSC), a diverse group working to co-create an approach to management of the Southern La Sal’s and Canyons, where federal, state and private rangelands are operated as an integrated, sustainable system.

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2024 EDR blog year in review

Jan 01, 2025

To kick off the new year, we’ve been reflecting on our achievements from 2024 and what we would like to accomplish in 2025. One of the things we are proud of from 2024 is posting another year’s worth of EDR blogs on key topics related to conflict competence and collaboration.

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Emotions are data when dealing with conflict

Dec 01, 2024

I find it very telling that when I ask people at the start of my classes and professional trainings what they think of when they think about conflict, the most common responses are emotions (particularly unpleasant emotions) such as frustration, anxiety, anger, or fear.

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We need to talk about dysregulation

Nov 07, 2024

Let me start with a provocative question: How are you feeling about the current state of U.S. politics? I encourage you to take a moment to really sit with this question and tune into how you are feeling.

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To overcome divisiveness, we need to focus on interests (and not positions)

Oct 01, 2024

In the hope that it helps us all navigate this challenging election season, I want to build on ideas I’ve explored in prior blogs to directly address the problem with focusing on positions and highlight some approaches for focusing on what really matters—our interests.

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The problem with compromise

Sep 01, 2024

In my classes and trainings, I often ask people what skills are necessary for effective conflict resolution. One of the most common responses I get is “compromise.” When people say this, I ask them a follow-up question: How does compromise make you feel? I encourage you to take a moment to sit with that question yourself.

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To flourish, we need to teach people how to make conflict productive

Aug 01, 2024

We live in a highly interconnected world in which people from all walks of life interact with each other on a daily basis. This unavoidable reality of modern life creates many amazing opportunities, including for greater creativity and innovation. However, it can be difficult to navigate if we don’t have skills for productively working through our differences. 

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When dealing with conflict, don’t just be nice—be kind and firm

Jul 01, 2024

As I explain, being kind and firm helps us focus on what really matters and get good outcomes for ourselves and others when dealing with conflict—and, in doing so, it helps us avoid many of the problems people create by focusing on “just being nice.”

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The power of “Yes and…”

Jun 01, 2024

“Yes, and” thinking is a mindset and way of speaking that reflects the simple but profound fact that the world is complex, and seemingly contradictory things can—and do—coexist. 

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The power of “the BOP” when dealing with conflict

May 01, 2024

In this blog, I want to build on those ideas by explaining a key source of power in negotiation and conflict situations: your ability to understand and exercise what I call the BOP–your “best option possible.”

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Don’t give up your power when dealing with conflict

Apr 01, 2024

Over my many years of doing conflict resolution and collaboration work, it has become very clear to me that we have a serious problem with power. People involved in conflict often describe themselves as powerless. Or they ask questions such as “How do you negotiate with people who have more power than you?” or “What do I do if they have all of the power?” Or they wonder how parties can collaborate when there are serious power imbalances.

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Commitment: A core conflict competency

Mar 01, 2024

Over the past year, I have published a series of blogs exploring the key skills that are necessary for making conflict productive, or what I call the core “conflict competencies.” Prior blogs have explored the conflict competencies of calm, curiosity, compassion, creativity, courage, and communication. In this blog, I want to explore one final core conflict competency: commitment.

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Communication: A core conflict competency

Feb 01, 2024

In 2023, I wrote a series of blogs exploring key conflict competencies. There are two competencies I identified in that blog that I have yet to fully describe: communication and commitment. In this blog, I am going to discuss communication. In my next blog, I’ll dive into commitment.

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2023 EDR blog year in review

Jan 04, 2024

As we enter the new year, we are reflecting on where we’ve been and where we’re going. As part of that, we’re looking back at the EDR blog topics we covered last year, which included an overview of the EDR program’s future direction, discussion of why conflict tends to be so challenging for people, and exploration of key conflict competencies—i.e., key skills for making conflict productive.

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Destructive conflict tendencies vs. productive conflict choices

Dec 01, 2023

In my last blog, I described what conflict competence is and summarized the key conflict competencies that empower us to deal with conflict skillfully and productively. In this blog, I build on those ideas to explore the choices we make when dealing with conflict and the way in which different choices lead to very different outcomes.

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What is conflict competence and what are the core conflict competencies?

Oct 26, 2023

In this blog, I want to pull these concepts all together by explaining what conflict is, what conflict competence is and why it matters, and what basic skills—or what I refer to as “conflict competencies”—are required to make conflict productive.

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Courage: An overarching skill for making conflict productive

Oct 01, 2023

I therefore believe that we need to develop an additional important, overarching skill or conflict competency in order to make conflict productive in our personal and professional lives: courage.

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Compassion: A prerequisite for calm, curiosity, and creativity when dealing with conflict

Sep 01, 2023

To get beyond this limiting mindset and to be calm, curious, and creative when dealing with conflict, I think we need to lean into another word that starts with C: compassion.

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Curiosity is a superpower when dealing with conflict

Jul 26, 2023

So how about curiosity? What does it mean and look like to approach conflict with curiosity, and how do we do this?

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To make conflict productive, focus on co-creating mutual gains outcomes

Jul 02, 2023

The mission of the EDR program is to foster a culture of collaboration around environmental, natural resource, and broader public policy issues. In other words, we strive to help people work together to create a better today and tomorrow.

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The power of calm when dealing with conflict

Jun 01, 2023

To make conflict productive and to avoid it becoming destructive, we have to get out of this win-lose mindset and instead focus on what really matters, and one key way to do this is to ask ourselves and others “What would be a productive outcome in this situation?”

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How to focus on what really matters in conflict

May 01, 2023

Over the last few months, we have published a series of blogs that start to explore why conflict is so hard for us, why it so often results in negative outcomes, and how we can make conflict an opportunity for positive change.

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Want to make conflict productive? Focus on what really matters

Apr 01, 2023

If you’ve been reading our recent blogs, hopefully by now you’re convinced that conflict “just is”: it is a healthy, normal, unavoidable part of life. Unfortunately, we tend to see the world through a win-lose, zero-sum mindset, which leads us to treat conflict as a threat. And when we do that, we tend to react poorly in situations of conflict, which leads to bad outcomes and reinforces our belief that conflict is a problem.

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Why we tend to see conflict as a problem—and why it matters

Mar 01, 2023

In our prior blogs, we have explained that conflict just is: It is a normal, healthy, unavoidable part of life. Therefore, we need to learn to deal with it effectively, and that is what collaboration is all about. And the good news is that doing so not only helps make life a lot easier; it can be enormously productive and beneficial for all parties involved in the conflict.

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The problem with conflict is that we see conflict as a problem

Feb 01, 2023

Even after many years of work in the field of conflict resolution and collaboration, I continue to be amazed by the extent to which productively working through conflict provides opportunities for positive change and growth.

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The future of the EDR program: Extra (effective) dialogue required

Jan 03, 2023

When Michele Straube founded the Wallace Stegner Center’s EDR program in 2012, she somewhat jokingly suggested the EDR acronym stands for “extra dialogue required.”

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I abhor the word “compromise”

Oct 10, 2022

I overheard a conversation the other day in which one person said that marriage is just one compromise after the other. I had a visceral reaction to that statement, partly feeling sad for the person’s marriage, but mostly just mad mad mad about the word “compromise.”

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Introducing the Gateway and Natural Amenity Region (GNAR) Initiative

Sep 26, 2022

The Wallace Stegner Center’s Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) program fosters a culture of collaboration around the environment, natural resource, and broader public policy issues, with a particular focus on Utah and the Mountain West.

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Seeing the forest for the trees: An environmental psychologist’s guide to sharing ranching landscapes with wildlife

Sep 12, 2022

Most aspects of life in the early 21st century go beyond easy analysis and resolution. The subject of ranching, particularly in the context of wildlife conservation in the American West, is bound then to aggravate anyone who demands singular causes and fixed solutions. The stories of ranchers have been told in countless forms over the years, yet rarely have they actually been told by ranchers themselves.

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Meet EDR Initiatives Facilitator Jordan Katcher

Aug 29, 2022

Meet Jordan Katcher (she/her), who joined the Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) program team at the University of Utah’s Wallace Stegner Center in August 2022.

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Ask better negotiation questions

Aug 15, 2022

It’s not difficult to see the limitations of these negotiation questions. The first one is likely to promote defensiveness. The second one sounds patronizing. The third shuts off discussion, perhaps even before it’s truly begun.

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Interests, positions, and conflict—Oh, my!

Aug 01, 2022

Interests and positions. We hear these terms frequently in negotiation and dispute resolution circles, but what do they really mean? And why is it important to understand the difference?

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Conflict just is. Let’s make it productive!

Jul 18, 2022

Every year, I train and coach hundreds of professionals and university students in the skills of collaboration and conflict resolution. In working with these diverse individuals and teams from across the country and internationally, I have come to realize that a few simple shifts in how we see, understand, and deal with conflict can totally change our relationships with each other and ourselves—as well as the outcomes of our interactions—in profoundly powerful and positive ways.

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How can we break through our narrative of polarization?

Jun 21, 2022

It’s easy to see that our nation is polarized. Watch any national news program or scroll social media and this narrative of polarization is overwhelming.

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Facilitating effective meetings: New resources from the EDR program

Jun 06, 2022

Both in-person and virtual meetings require deliberate planning, facilitation, and follow-through, often with more time spent in planning than in the meeting itself.

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Better together: Co-creating a factual foundation in environment and public policy conflict

May 23, 2022

Social media silos of information, separate worlds of news pipelines, advocacy experts—can we ever find a way to talk to one another? Solve a problem or resolve a dispute with varying viewpoints?

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Reporting on the Building Bridges Symposium

May 09, 2022

At the Building Bridges Symposium in Cody on April 14, 2022, over 50 people gathered from across Wyoming and neighboring states representing Native Nations, federal and state agencies, and nonprofit organizations.

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10 negotiation training skills every organization needs

Apr 25, 2022

How can managers and their organizations increase the odds that negotiation training will lead to beneficial long-term results? Here are several pieces of advice, drawn from experts at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

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Meet EDR Program Manager Emily Gaines Crockett

Apr 11, 2022

Meet Emily Gaines Crockett, who joined the Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) program team at the University of Utah’s Wallace Stegner Center in December 2021. Emily manages EDR program administration and communication efforts.

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Book review: Humor, Seriously: Why Humor is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life* (*and how anyone can harness it. Even you.)

Mar 28, 2022

My mother loved adages and random quotes. One of her favorites was “laughter is the best medicine.”

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A practitioner’s view on finding the words to describe our work

Mar 14, 2022

It can be difficult to describe our work—the field of conflict. When asked questions regarding my career and work, I have referred to my role in more ways than I can count.

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Apply for the EDR program’s Collaboration Certificate course

Feb 28, 2022

The Wallace Stegner Center’s Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) program is currently accepting applications for our 2022 Collaboration Certificate Course. The course will be delivered virtually via highly interactive and engaging sessions that emphasize peer-to-peer learning and networking.

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What is negotiation?

Feb 07, 2022

Many people dread negotiation, not recognizing that they negotiate on a regular, even daily basis. Most of us face formal negotiations throughout our personal and professional lives.

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Supporting federal agencies to make collaboration the way of doing business

Jan 24, 2022

As a facilitator living in Wyoming,  I have experienced how collaborative problem-solving has increasingly become a tool to unravel any tension and complexity arising between the public and the agencies that manage federal lands.

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2021 EDR blog year in review

Jan 10, 2022

I am enchanted by stories. Stories with strong character development, riveting plot lines, and happy (and sad!) endings. Stories with conflict, resolution, and lessons learned.

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Using six thinking hats in negotiation

Dec 06, 2021

Edward De Bono has identified six different ways of thinking using six different color-coded “Thinking Hats.” Too often, negotiation—especially high-conflict negotiation—begins as a mishmash of facts, emotions, and negativity, with very little productive problem-solving.

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Conflict-management styles: Pitfalls and best practices

Nov 22, 2021

People approach conflict differently, depending on their innate tendencies, their life experiences, and the demands of the moment. Negotiation and conflict-management research reveals how our differing conflict-management styles mesh with best practices in conflict resolution.

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The problem with problems

Nov 08, 2021

As we find ourselves in dispute about environmental, and, really, any issues in life, we will offer or be offered perceived issues, positions, and options. Do this. This way. Don’t do that. That way.

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The opportunities of a new Glen Canyon

Oct 25, 2021

News coverage of drought has become inescapable for those of us living in the west. Talk of prolonged water shortage has been top of mind for years, but reached a tipping point this year with Lakes Powell and Mead dropping to their lowest levels since they began filling.

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Notes from the collaborative governance rodeo

Oct 11, 2021

Since the term started emerging in 1970s, collaborative governance has been a wily beast. Just as scholars start to corral and define it, the practice of collaborative governance gallops off in some other direction.

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The pause: Closing the gap between our best intentions and our actions

Sep 27, 2021

For years, we, as a field, have been hard at work teaching crucial communication skills for managing conflict, solving problems, and navigating change.

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Conversation dominators (when “step up, step back” doesn’t cut it)

Sep 13, 2021

Hands down, the top two questions I get from clients are “How do we foster more engagement in our meetings and trainings?” and “How do we handle it when people dominate the conversation?”

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“Pause. Take a breath. What do you see?”

Aug 23, 2021

I sat at my newly-made-up-work-from-home office thinking, “Why toilet paper?” and suddenly songs from Urinetown: The Musical burst into my head. It seemed appropriate given the sudden and limited supply of the product.

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The benefits of a situation assessment

Aug 09, 2021

The situation assessment is often promoted in the facilitation and conflict resolution world, and yet it can be tempting to skip this process altogether and jump straight into collaborative work.

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Wisdom from the Peacekeeper of the Year

Jul 26, 2021

Learn more about Michele Straube, the founder and former director of the EDR program, and her lessons learned from a career in conflict resolution.

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Zoom fatigue is solvable. But making meetings not suck takes work.

Jul 12, 2021

In the past 16 months, my organization has adapted quite well to working from home and collaborating remotely with partners. We’re a well-resourced organization with compassionate leadership, patient IT staff, and an abundance of laptops, cell phones and Zoom professional licenses.

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Why I love Zoom

Jun 21, 2021

I hear Zoom complaints every day. “I cannot stand one more Zoom call.” “I am Zoomed out.” “I will be so happy to get back to work in person.” Yes, you’ve probably heard them, too. In fact you may be one of them.

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On conflict, collaboration, and leadership: An interview with EDR Program Director Danya Rumore

Jun 07, 2021

I remember learning about conflicts over wolves and snowmobiles in Yellowstone when I was a kid and feeling like everyone was losing as a result of those disputes. That set me off on a lifelong journey to figure out how to help people work together to solve complex environmental and public policy problems.

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Uncovering and restoring our urban creeks

May 17, 2021

Six years ago, a group of University of Utah students (myself included) gathered in the bowels of the School of Architecture for the Urban Ecology Capstone course.

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Breaking down silos: The inception of the Utah Rural Coordinating Council

May 03, 2021

The term “breaking down silos” has been around for a while now, but what does that actually look like? Are we building tin can telephones from silo to silo?

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A high-wire act: Mediating high conflict online

Apr 19, 2021

As COVID-19 drives our longstanding work with stakeholders, advisory committees, and others onto online platforms, we also are being forced to mediate our most challenging cases in the same online format. These cases often prove to be high-wire acts when we meet face to face.

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Creating space for understanding

Apr 06, 2021

I have always been interested in what motivates people. What connects us, what divides us, and why? Increasingly, I feel we are more invested in our divisions than our common ground. But a recent experience reminded me that common ground still exists.

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Cultivating dignity in a year of rupture

Apr 06, 2021

If the scale of this year’s global health crisis, economic turbulence, social justice uprisings, and climate extremes indicates anything, it’s that there’s an undeniable need to move not just our hearts into a deeper understanding, but also our full selves into the work of greater change.

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Using principled negotiation to resolve disagreements

Apr 05, 2021

Principled negotiation allows you to leverage the principles of your opponent to win a negotiation. Parties can often reach a better agreement through integrative negotiation.

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Apply for the short course on natural resources collaboration

Feb 22, 2021

The Wallace Stegner Center’s Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) program is currently accepting applications for our 2021 short course on effective natural resources collaboration. The course will be held online via Zoom. The application is open through April 19, 2021; we anticipate selecting and notifying short course participants by April 30, 2021.

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Leveraging the gains of collaborative practice

Feb 08, 2021

I still remember an episode that occurred during one of my early terms in the Montana House of Representatives, back in the 1970s.

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Illuminating collaborative leadership

Jan 25, 2021

What’s the “secret sauce” of effective collaborations? A great logic model or grant source doesn’t guarantee success.

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Invitation to join our efforts in 2021

Jan 11, 2021

Now more than ever, we are convinced that people need to—and can—work together to make change for the better. Doing so, we believe, will require that we all invest in our self-awareness and skills for dialogue, collaboration, conflict resolution, and leadership.

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Leaders should seek cooperation and collaboration, not compromise

Dec 14, 2020

Almost immediately after news agencies called the election for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, pundits and others were talking about the need to work across differences and “compromise.”

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Navigating complex public issues: A comparison of two facilitation approaches to group decision-making

Dec 07, 2020

Poor preparation and facilitation can lead to participants feeling underappreciated, not listened to or frustrated. The way dialogues are designed and facilitated can make an immense difference when it comes to meaningfully engaging citizens and fostering collaboration.

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A scene from tribal headquarters at Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribes and the value of readiness checking

Nov 23, 2020

There they were: In a bright, spacious room at tribal headquarters on a February day, a group of 14 individuals gathered to discuss the burned, abandoned properties in downtown Poplar, Montana.

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Floods, fires, drought and more: The climate is changing and dispute resolution tools are needed (now!)

Nov 09, 2020

As I watch the news from California of the absolute devastation from numerous, massive wildfires or hear about repeated hurricanes hitting the Gulf Coast, I see, now more than ever, the critical need for good dispute resolution tools to help address climate change issues.

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Changing consultation for the better: Two case examples

Oct 26, 2020

While consent and veto have been debated regarding Indigenous rights and international law, our view as scholars is to begin with the strongest moral foundations of consent, which includes Tribal self-determination in response to actions that affect their members’ lives, lands, cultures, and freedoms.

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Changing consultation for the better: An ethics and partnership perspective

Oct 12, 2020

As climate change and fossil fuel extractive industries threaten Indian country and burden many Indigenous communities with risks, mitigating the negative impacts on tribal sovereignty, health, and cultural integrity demands consultation between tribes and the federal government.

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What is this situation ready for? Readiness checking in 5 steps

Sep 28, 2020

People, conflict situations or other messy public decisions are always ready for something. The overarching questions are ‘what’ and ‘how.’

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Lessons learned from the probletunity of Madame C: Outer and inner work

Sep 14, 2020

As EDR Program Associate Director Nedra Chandler and I wrote in our “What lessons are you learning from Madame C?” blog earlier this summer, the coronavirus pandemic has presented all sorts of challenges and related opportunities (or what we call “probletunities”).

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Lessons from the coronavirus pandemic for environmental governance

Aug 24, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic offers lessons for leaders on every level about how—and how not— to manage complex interjurisdictional challenges, like the environment, which unfold without regard for political boundaries.

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Cultural conflicts in the Covid-19 era

Aug 10, 2020

During the Covid-19 pandemic, new types of conflict are arising. People are arguing on Facebook or Twitter about whether stay-at-home orders have gone too far.

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After Floyd killing, we need a truth and reconciliation commission on race and policing

Jul 27, 2020

The instinct for many Americans with deeply felt grievances is to rage. Decades of protests—many peaceful, some violent—have yielded insufficient progress in the quest for better relations between the police and those who are policed.

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Novel conditions, but classic advice: Wisdom for corona-induced collaboration

Jul 13, 2020

While I think we’ve all heard about some of the challenges of dating in the modern era (e.g., commitment-phobia, hectic schedules, and ghosting), I never expected that we would add “consent from roommates to progress new relationship” to the list.

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Madame C’s lesson on mindful appreciation

Jun 29, 2020

I sat at my newly-made-up-work-from-home office thinking “Why toilet paper?” and suddenly songs from Urinetown The Musical burst into my head. It seemed appropriate given the sudden and limited supply of the product. (Yes, that really is the name of the musical. It won three Tonys in 2002.)

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What Madame C (Coronavirus) is teaching me

Jun 15, 2020

When I was first asked to share my lessons learned from Madame C (the coronavirus), I was a little nonplussed about what to say. My biggest (and most embarrassing) lesson learned was that I.hate.to.clean.

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What lessons are you learning from Madame C?

Jun 01, 2020

During these uncertain times, we have all had to adapt how we do our day-to-day activities and how we are being in our lives. This adaptation can be reactionary—changing how we do things without intention or awareness.

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Bridging the rural/urban divide on the environment

May 18, 2020

President Trump’s recent weakening of rules governing protections of wetlands and streams is the latest salvo in a four-decade battle over the Clean Water Act.

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Maintaining Utah’s collaboration culture in a time of social distancing

May 04, 2020

At the three dozen inter-agency meetings, workshops, or conferences I’ve attended in the last eleven months as an urban planner for a local government entity in Utah, speakers began by expressing gratitude for the teamwork that enabled a successful event or project.

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Pipeline construction: When safety goes global

Apr 20, 2020

Energy pipeline projects in North America have been increasingly inciting opposition, sometimes vehement, over the past decade. Pipelines have always raised public concern about safety and local environmental, land, and cultural impacts.

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Can we live with building confidence in the process?

Apr 06, 2020

To me, trust has always been a heavy request—although most will say that mediators seek to build trust with and among parties. I’ve often tried to see the world through the eyes of a party and wondered: Is it rational to give over trust to a stranger?

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I love conflict!

Mar 23, 2020

After decades serving as a public policy mediator, I have learned to introduce myself with this greeting: “Good morning. I’m your mediator, and I love conflict!”

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Liberating Structures: Change methods for everybody every day

Mar 09, 2020

Liberating structures (LS) are simple change methods that anybody can use to improve or change the way work gets done, now and in the future.

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Six guidelines for “getting to yes”

Feb 24, 2020

In their revolutionary book “Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In,” Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton introduced the world to the possibilities of mutual-gains negotiation, or integrative negotiation.

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Apply for the Short Course on Effective Natural Resources Collaboration

Feb 10, 2020

The Wallace Stegner Center’s Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) program is currently accepting applications for our Short Course on Effective Natural Resources Collaboration through March 27, 2020.

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Moderating mentor and career development conference panel in conflict resolution

Jan 27, 2020

Culminating months of emails and conference calls with some people I knew and several I had never met, all of us strewn across the country, I was moderating a panel on mentoring and career development at the Association for Conflict Resolution 2019 annual conference.

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Devising strategies for complex public policy challenges: Lessons learned from the Visitation on Utah’s Public Lands workshop

Jan 13, 2020

Public policy challenges have a tendency to be somewhat overwhelming. People often don’t agree about the nature of the problem or what, if anything, should be done to address it.

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EDR blog year in review: 2019

Dec 16, 2019

One of the reasons I enjoy managing the EDR blog is the chance to read about the valuable resources, best practices, case studies, ideas, and activities related to collaboration and dialogue.

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Breakthrough collaboration: What is it and how do we help make it happen?

Dec 02, 2019

CBI’s vision is “a world in which our most difficult challenges are solved through collaboration.” That seems like a fairly tall order in two ways.

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EDR program brings process innovation to you, Utah, and the Mountain West

Nov 18, 2019

Looking out my window at the Wasatch Mountains today, in my new role as associate director at the Stegner Center’s Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) program, I am musing about what ‘societies to match our scenery’ might require.

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Righting un-rightable wrongs: The difference a decade makes!

Nov 04, 2019

I wonder what my dear Hawaiian friend Jan would say about the current stance taken by Kū Kiaʻi Mauna, the protectors of Mauna Kea, Hawaii’s tallest mountain and for many, a sacred place.

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Nurturing collaboration in Colorado’s water community: What have we learned?

Oct 21, 2019

In 1990, after over a decade of fierce opposition, EPA vetoed Denver’s proposed Two Forks Reservoir on Colorado’s South Platte River. The decision sounded the death knell for the unilateral approach to water projects that had governed for decades in Colorado.

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In defense of facts: The need to discuss values

Oct 07, 2019

Concern about functional public discourse and decision-making has risen sharply in the U.S. since the election of Donald Trump with some questioning if we are existing in a post-truth era.

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Building community resilience to climate change with facilitated, collaborative dialogue

Sep 23, 2019

In July, I spent two days in Moab, Utah, to help facilitate a workshop on how the impacts of climate change on drought and extreme precipitation may affect water supply management in the Spanish Valley.

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Less but better: An investment in avoiding unnecessary conflict

Sep 09, 2019

It is not often that I find myself reflecting on a book pretty much every day—and mentioning it to friends and colleagues almost as often. However, it is perhaps not surprising that Greg McKeown’s book “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” seems particularly relevant.

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Using the Johari Rooms in dispute resolution

Aug 26, 2019

Psychologists Joe Luft and Harry Ingham were researching human personality at the University of California-Berkeley in the 1950s when they devised their “Johari Window” named after a combination of their two first names.

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Stumbling into collaboration: Learning to listen from ranchers, elk, and trout

Aug 12, 2019

In the fall of 2013, the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food opened a prototype grant created to fund localized natural resource planning efforts.

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Lessons learned in my first year of dispute resolution

Jul 29, 2019

I thought I knew a thing or two about communication coming into the University of Utah’s City and Metropolitan Planning master’s program: Use active listening, practice dialogue rather than discussion.

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Harvard shares five tips for an experienced mediator

Jul 15, 2019

If you are an experienced mediator who has mediated many disputes to a successful agreement, then you have probably established a reputation and feel confident in your mediation skills.

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Wisdom from the field: Lessons for collaborative natural resource management and community development partnerships

Jul 01, 2019

For practitioners working on the ground, it can be reinvigorating, inspiring, and enormously helpful to learn from others’ experiences doing similar work.

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Collaboration playlist

Jun 17, 2019

Music has so many magical properties. It can prompt memory. It can help create memories. It can access memory. It can set the mood. It can change the mood. All these characteristics are beneficial to negotiation and collaboration.

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A sea of Cs: Collective and competing collaboratives in Colorado

Jun 03, 2019

Collaboration is an important tool for addressing increasingly complex environmental problems, such as those that are widespread or cross boundaries, that are prone to conflict or involve a lot of uncertainty, or which are just too expensive or difficult to tackle alone.

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The Utah Resilience Map: Making connections between local sustainability projects

May 20, 2019

Online collaborative community resource mapping is a new phenomenon that helps to connect local organizations and volunteers in building more sustainable and social justice cities.

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Communication strategies for engaging climate skeptics: Religion and the environment

May 06, 2019

In our ongoing disputes and conversations about the environment and climate change, it becomes ever more pressing to uncover and explore obstacles to progress and policy enactment.

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Trust: An essential collaborative component

Apr 22, 2019

“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” — Stephen R. Covey

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It’s not federal overreach, it’s federal under-listening: Lessons from rural Oregon

Apr 08, 2019

The EDR program interviewed Peter Walker, professor of geography at the University of Oregon, about his 2018 book “Sagebrush Collaboration: How Harney County Defeated the Takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge.”

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Do cows come to consensus? Exploring what humans and animals might have in common when it comes to dispute resolution

Mar 25, 2019

Do elephants experience empathy? Do arctic foxes argue? Do narwhals negotiate? Do raccoons reconcile? Dr. Frans de Waal explores these ideas in his recent book, “Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves.”

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Why “progress” fits natural resource conflict management better than “success”

Mar 11, 2019

As a practicing environmental facilitator/mediator, I am frequently asked if a process succeeded; it seems politicians and the news media are particularly fond of that question.

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Apply for the short course on effective natural resources collaboration

Feb 25, 2019

Consider words like personal, effective, and awesome. What might they describe? Here’s a hint: Short course.

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The path of collaboration in Harney County, Oregon

Feb 11, 2019

Harney County, Oregon, is broad, flat, and expansive. Were the title not already claimed by Montana, this place could be properly called big sky country.

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A new era in collaborative forest restoration: Working towards long-term, large-scale, and high-capacity collaboration

Jan 28, 2019

Dr. Courtney Schultz of Colorado State University and I have been researching and engaging with professionals involved in the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) for almost a decade now.

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EDR blog year in review: 2018

Jan 14, 2019

What strikes me most at the close of another year for the EDR blog is the perseverance and determination I see happening in the field of environmental dispute resolution (EDR).

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Collaborating on air quality: From pollution to solution

Dec 17, 2018

This time of year, one thing seems to be on the mind of just about everyone in the Salt Lake Valley: air quality.

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Energy siting can be incendiary

Dec 03, 2018

Energy extraction and production have powerfully shaped the American landscape over the last hundred years. Blessed with extraordinary natural resources, among many other attributes, the United States has built the largest economy in the world.

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Great Salt Lake Stink Tank: Moving a dialogue on collaboration forward

Nov 19, 2018

Earlier this summer, we attended the Dialogue on Collaboration focused on Great Salt Lake. One prominent theme we heard and that collectively emerged during the individual small group discussions was the lack of (and need for) greater public awareness about the importance of Great Salt Lake.

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Can EDR practices benefit from learner-centered teaching strategies?

Nov 05, 2018

It’s a lush forest scene: trees surround you, the ground is moist and spongy with moss, and above you stretches a seemingly endless canopy filled with lianas and vines. If I ask you to notice all the different green items in this environment, some would immediately pop out.

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Building trust with the public in your decision-making process

Oct 22, 2018

Public participation can be considered risky or a chore, particularly when an issue or decision is highly technical and requires a lot of education to build understanding.

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Addressing complex issues with trauma-informed approaches

Oct 08, 2018

Complex issues occur at international scales, such as peacemaking post-conflict, addressing poverty and migration, and locally in terms of homelessness and adaption to climate change. Complex issues are challenging to work on in communities and committees.

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Wisdom from the experts: Collaboration and alternative dispute resolution in the West

Sep 24, 2018

I often find myself wishing I had more opportunities to learn from other facilitators’ and collaboration professionals’ trials, tribulations, and successes.

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Don’t believe everything you think: The pitfalls of cognitive bias

Sep 10, 2018

A woman tearfully recounts her battle with breast cancer, attributing its cause to the nearby Superfund site. “Don’t tell me the toxic pollution wasn’t the cause. No one else in my family has had cancer and only I live next to such a mess.”

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Rock and roll: Use the Triangle of Satisfaction to design and facilitate effective collaboration

Aug 27, 2018

Humans can be Bermuda Triangles of needs. If you are a leader, team participant, or facilitator of collaborative work of any kind, I promise you at least one insight you can use and apply directly to what you do.

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State invests millions in conflict resolution: A case study

Aug 13, 2018

This year, one state in the nation will invest more than $1 million to support public policy and community-based conflict resolution and collaborative implementation. Perhaps more surprising is the fact that this amount is appropriated every year, and that the state has slowly and steadily increased its funding for conflict resolution and collaboration for more than two decades.

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The power of vulnerability in conflict resolution

Jul 30, 2018

I recently joined 15 peers from my professional network to participate in a workshop designed to tackle challenging topics on personal and professional values, ethics, and morals.

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What we can learn from bees about building consensus

Jul 16, 2018

At times, a group of outraged stakeholders can feel like a swarm of bees. Initially, stakeholders are sweet as honey…until they hit you with the stinger.

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Unraveling complex issues: Collaboration around the Great Salt Lake

Jul 02, 2018

Discussing something as significant as the Great Salt Lake involves landscape level topics, such as water use among three states that impacts what flows into the lake or issues at the microscopic level and the unique ecosystems that thrives or perishes based on the salinity of the water.

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Teamwork and shared interests to improve tribal relations with the BLM in Utah

Jun 18, 2018

Starting, conducting and completing a “situation assessment” for inexperienced yet enthusiastic protégés in the Environmental Dispute Resolution program short course can be an overwhelming task. Thankfully, we found a way to maximize our experience: by working together, we had someone to bounce ideas around with and someone to share the load.

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Coming full circle: Using litigation as a tool to facilitate collaboration

Jun 04, 2018

Though it may seem paradoxical, litigation filed by a participant in a collaborative process may offer a tool to help facilitate collaboration.

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Four strategies for effective science communication

May 21, 2018

Why is the sky blue? If you have ever tried to explain the answer to this question to a first grader, you know how challenging effective science communication can be.

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Finding shared interests at the Fort Douglas National Historic Landmark

May 07, 2018

Today, Fort Douglas is home to the bustling student residences at the University of Utah. A university managed hotel and conference center occupies a portion of the fort, and the Fort Douglas Military Museum attracts Salt Lake City visitors.

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Collaboration is improv, or is improv a collaboration?

Apr 23, 2018

I raced around the room, trying desperately to keep my bodyguard in between me and the paparazzi. But with every move I made it seemed like my bodyguard had their own agenda, and it didn’t include protecting me, which was true.

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More peaceful winters reign in Yellowstone

Apr 09, 2018

Winter in Yellowstone, the world’s first national park, is unforgettable. Visiting in February with my husband and friends, we watched two wolves resting together on a hillside in the Lamar Valley.

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What environmental dispute resolution can learn from civity and complexity science

Mar 26, 2018

Successful environmental dispute resolution (EDR) requires long-term cooperation among stakeholders, who often have incongruent values and interests and may have experienced complicated previous interaction.

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Helping collaborative groups get real

Mar 12, 2018

One of the key characteristics of successful collaborations, particularly when parties are trying to resolve difficult issues, is authenticity.

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Apply for the short course on effective natural resources collaboration

Feb 26, 2018

As we usher our second cohort toward short course graduation, we invite all “doubting Thomases,” “converts to collaboration,” and everyone in-between to apply for the 2018 short course on effective natural resources collaboration.

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The sweet sound of collaboration

Feb 12, 2018

As a graduate student fellow with the Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) program, I’ve been working on various community-based conflicts and challenges. One such challenge has been helping the Town of Springdale, Utah.

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Cultivating a culture of environmental and natural resources collaboration in Utah

Jan 29, 2018

Unhealthy air quality. Growing demands for water in an arid state. Conflicts over public lands and how those lands should be managed. These are just a few environmental and natural resources challenges here in Utah that we hear “keep people up at night.”

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EDR blog year in review: 2017

Jan 16, 2018

As I look back on the EDR blogs we’ve posted in the last 12 months, I find myself inspired and energized by the many examples of collaboration and strategies for how to build bridges among individuals, stakeholder groups, and communities our authors have shared.

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Mindfulness for mediators, innovators and problem-solvers

Dec 18, 2017

Complexity and conflict can interfere with our ability to listen accurately and sustain focused attention when serving as a mediator or engaging in a collaboration endeavor.

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A new way of doing business? Collaborating with the U.S. Forest Service

Dec 04, 2017

In 2012 the U.S. Forest Service adopted a new planning rule, policy that regulate how the Forest Service conducts management planning processes and monitoring.

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Finding common ground on public lands

Nov 20, 2017

I kept dreaming of Hayley Mills singing “Let’s Get Together” from “The Parent Trap” and found myself humming the tune during the day as we began planning the conservation forum, “Finding Common Ground on Public Lands.”

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A practical roadmap for resolving conflict

Nov 06, 2017

My first conflict mediation in the Middle East occurred in 2007. Arbinger’s international bestseller on conflict resolution, “The Anatomy of Peace,” had just been published, and the Shimon Peres Center for Peace in Tel Aviv gathered a group of Palestinians and Israelis for a three-day experience with us.

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The three Fs of a successful watershed partnership

Oct 23, 2017

The Escalante River is one of the last largely free-flowing, small rivers in the American Southwest. Its watershed covers about 1.3 million acres in south-central Utah, within central Garfield and northeastern Kane Counties.

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Conflict mapping is no spaghetti bowl

Oct 09, 2017

Conflict mapping is a roll-up-your-sleeves pencil and paper exercise that I have come to appreciate and incorporate into my collaborative process practice and in my personal life.

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Collaborating for cleaner air

Sep 25, 2017

I was all set to start learning on the first day of the Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) program’s short course on effective natural resources collaboration. The course piqued my interest since much of the work I do in the air quality field as the policy director for Breathe Utah would rely on enhancing my collaboration and conflict resolution skills.

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Establishing collaboration: Breaking down silos to effectively manage ecosystems

Sep 11, 2017

My EDR capstone project started almost accidentally. I was sitting in a work planning meeting in 2015, when I heard complaints from Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) aquatics section personnel related to the escapement of white sucker and northern pike from a pond.

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Daring to dialogue: Stories of “being the change”

Aug 28, 2017

On June 15, the EDR program co-hosted “Fostering Productive Dialogue in Divided Times,” the third in the Dialogue on Collaboration series.

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Taking the leap: A collaborative process—and life!—journey

Aug 14, 2017

Have you ever stood on the edge of a new beginning, noticing all of those excited anxious squiggly feelings dancing around inside—and then jumped? That’s what I experienced as I waited for my plane to take off to a new life and job.

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A cow runs through it: Reflections on 20+ years as an environmental mediator

Jul 26, 2017

I realized recently that my projects involved cows at the beginning, middle and end of my career, and a squishy stress toy named Consensus Cow has become my go-to mediation/facilitation tool in the past year.

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Breaking the natural resources gridlock with consensus building

Jul 17, 2017

In California, where I live, rarely a week goes by when the headlines aren’t putting a magnifying glass on the climate shifts in the West and their impact on our natural resources and people.

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Fostering productive dialogue in divided times

Jul 03, 2017

We live in divided times. The question is: What can we do to heal our nation’s rifts?

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A need—and an opportunity—for leadership

Jun 19, 2017

One need only read the national or local news to find multiple examples of societal frustration, political turmoil, ideological divides, environmental degradation, and numerous other challenges. The question is: how do we leverage the challenges we face into opportunities?

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I’ll see you in court: Litigation and collaborative land management

Jun 05, 2017

Litigation over public land management has become a contentious topic in recent news. Industry groups and ranchers are pressuring the new Congress and administration to end what they deem “abusive” litigation tactics used by environmental groups against grazing and other federal land projects involving the private sector.

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The future of Indian water rights in the West

May 22, 2017

Water is an important and essential commodity for people living in the western United States today, and it is just as important for Indians living on reservation lands in the western states.

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Making room for give and take

May 08, 2017

Recently, I spent 17 days on the islands of Cebu and Negros in the Philippines. It was a powerful cultural experience.

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“Town halls” are dead. Long live town halls?

Apr 24, 2017

Imagine walking into a room with hundreds of people looking at you, waiting for you to speak, hanging on your every syllable.

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Accomplishing the impossible: The Spokane River story

Apr 10, 2017

By the end of 2011, the Spokane River community had learned its lesson. After more than 11 years of disputes, delays, and lawsuits, a plan for improving dissolved oxygen in the river was completed and now an even more ambitious goal lay ahead.

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Empowering collaboration through dark sky protection

Mar 27, 2017

Moving from a small California beach town to Salt Lake City, I realized the night sky was a severely under-used resource in my childhood.

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Apply for Short Course on Effective Natural Resources Collaboration

Mar 20, 2017

The 23 participants in the inaugural Short Course will attend their last session on April 27, walking away with a certificate of completion, new skills, friends and collaborators, and a capstone project putting the concepts and skills they learned into action in a real-life setting of their choosing.

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For living room candor, keep the conversation casual

Mar 13, 2017

When is it possible for someone to express their honest thoughts and feelings about an important issue? Is it possible for that person to do so while acting in their professional capacity?

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Two sources of turmoil in a divided America

Feb 27, 2017

The ’60s and early ’70s were a time of great turmoil in a divided America, including the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK; the civil rights movement; the Vietnam War and our invasion of Cambodia; and Watergate and Nixon’s forced resignation.

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E pluribus unum (out of many one)

Feb 13, 2017

Consider editing a major planning document with five federal agencies, three agencies each in six states, 15 non-profit organizations, three to four layers each. That equals 90 commenters and thousands of comments over multiple drafts.

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EDR blog year in review: 2016

Jan 30, 2017

In 2016, we posted 26 blogs from 24 authors. Many of our blog posts featured inspiring examples of collaboration.

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From question to connection: Building bridges with appreciative inquiry

Jan 17, 2017

Now more than ever, those of us who practice community engagement are acutely aware of how polarized ”the publics” have become.

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Keep your knees bent while facilitating

Jan 03, 2017

I grew up in a household of skiers. The lessons I earned about staying upright while skiing hold true for effective facilitation as well.

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Putting another E in EDR (electronic)

Dec 19, 2016

Online dispute resolution (ODR) is an area of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that has been developing over the past 20 years. I see many opportunities to use ODR techniques in environmental dispute resolution (EDR).

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My own worst nightmare

Dec 05, 2016

Are there certain personalities that you just can’t stand? For me it’s a righteous, haranguing fanatic who is not interested in any other point of view and unwilling to even entertain the thought that he or she might not be right.

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The power of human-to-human connections

Nov 21, 2016

On Saturday, Nov. 12, the first Utah Citizens Summit was held in downtown Salt Lake City. The event—a day of dialogue and celebration sponsored by the Utah Civil and Compassionate Communities Initiative—capped a yearlong effort to bring communities together through conversation and service.

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Noble water pursuits: How the Nobel Prize for contract theory highlights promising movements in Utah water law

Nov 07, 2016

Complex situations call for creative solutions. Nowhere is this maxim more relevant than in addressing modern environmental problems.

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Using serious games to help communities make progress on serious problems

Oct 24, 2016

Addressing environmental, natural resource, and public policy issues is serious business. Making progress on concerns such as water resources management and air quality often requires helping diverse stakeholders recognize their shared challenges.

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The Western Klamath Restoration Partnership uses the open standards process

Oct 06, 2016

The Western Klamath Restoration Partnership (WKRP) effort explores a path toward collaborative fire management in the Western Klamath landscape.

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Be the thermostat, not the thermometer

Sep 25, 2016

On a break in a recent workshop, I reflected to my co-facilitator on the energy of the group during a section I’d just led: “I can’t figure out what’s going on with them. They seem really edgy and are stuck in a victim mindset.”

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Willard Spur: Resolving conflict through collaboration

Sep 12, 2016

Sometimes it’s hard for me to keep my inner cynic in check. This is particularly true during presidential elections, when the divisive nature of our political system makes compromise among differing viewpoints seem impossible.

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So little time, so much to read: Conflict management blogs I follow

Aug 29, 2016

It’s class prep time in academia, and I’ve been looking through my “new topics” collection to update my Conflict Management lesson plans.

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Working with elected officials on water issues: What can collaboration bring to the table?

Aug 15, 2016

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to attend the Environmental Dispute Resolution program’s Dialogue on Collaboration seminar. This seminar was focused on the importance and challenges of involving elected officials in collaborative efforts, specifically water-related issues.

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Collaboration is a better way to solve our most difficult problems

Aug 02, 2016

Several years ago, I became a member of the Collaborative Family Lawyers of Utah. It made sense to me to encourage families to seek to resolve their problems collaboratively, rather than in court.

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Citizen referendum? I vote “needs review”

Jul 18, 2016

Did the United Kingdom’s Brexit vote resolve anything? What does such a narrow margin of victory for the Leave (EU) position really mean?

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In the footsteps of many: Collaboration is key to preserving the national park experience

Jul 04, 2016

Just under 12 million people visited Utah’s 13 national park sites in 2015. Park enthusiasts are flocking to these iconic landscapes.

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“Endless pressure, endlessly applied:” Idaho’s Boulder-White Clouds Wilderness bill

Jun 20, 2016

It’s a special day when the President of the United States opens the door and invites you in. As Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) would later say to President Obama as we stood in a circle around the presidential seal on the Oval Office rug, “You know, Rick here has been working on this for 30 years.”

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EDR year in review (American Bar Association report)

Jun 06, 2016

The American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (ABA-SEER) publishes an annual ADR year in review report, which includes notable case law relevant to the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in environmental cases.

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Going fossil-free collaboratively

May 23, 2016

On May 2, the University of Utah made steps to join more than 30 colleges and universities that have pulled investments in fossil fuels since 2011.

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How dialogue can help small rural towns navigate planning challenges

May 09, 2016

Rockville is a small town located at the edge of Zion National Park that has a proud history of being a quiet, rural, agricultural community.

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Fireside Q&A with Professor Larry Susskind

Apr 25, 2016

I have experience facilitating public engagement using live polling via apps or text messaging. I feel strongly feel that social media and new technologies are going to play a major role in the future of public engagement and dispute resolution.

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What I say vs. what you hear: Flexing your style for effective communication

Apr 10, 2016

It really gets my goat when colleagues do not read my emails. I write amazing emails—with tons of context! Bulleted lists! To-dos! How dare they not read what I spent so much energy writing?

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The power of collaborative tinkering and creative problem solving

Mar 28, 2016

Environmental and natural resource conflicts tend to be enormously complicated, emotionally and politically fraught, and seemingly intractable. Take, for example, issues such as conflict over public lands here in Utah.

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Apply for the Short Course on Effective Natural Resources Collaboration

Mar 14, 2016

Our program’s efforts to create educational and networking opportunities for individuals interested in collaborative approaches to resolve conflicts have been met with enthusiastic participation and growing financial support.

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EDR blog year in review: 2015

Feb 29, 2016

In 2015, we posted 27 blogs from 26 guest authors. Here is a summary, in case you didn’t get to read them all.

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Let those affected by decisions really affect those decisions

Feb 16, 2016

“This is America. We want to make it easier for people to participate.” So said President Obama in his final State of the Union address.

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Four principles of conflict resolution and collaboration

Jan 29, 2016

This month marks my 20th anniversary of being a mediator and facilitator! I have been pondering my career, assessing my experiences, and thinking about areas in which I want to grow and develop.

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Civity: The other Keystone XL story

Jan 19, 2016

On Nov. 6, 2015, President Obama endorsed a decision by the U.S. State Department that the Keystone XL Pipeline—“a pipeline that would carry Canadian crude oil through our heartland to ports in the Gulf of Mexico and out into the world market”—would not serve the national interest.

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Adaptive governance: Collaboration and then some

Jan 04, 2016

Many environmental problems, especially if they are grounded in natural resource use, face the governance challenge of changing conditions.

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Keeping Sandpoint’s quality of life strong through collaboration

Dec 21, 2015

Sandpoint is a small community in the Idaho panhandle that, like most communities across the United States, suffered economic setbacks during the Great Recession.

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Whiskey is for drinking, water is for…mediation?

Dec 07, 2015

Anyone who has ever attended a water law conference has almost certainly heard the phrase “Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over.” The phrase is often attributed to Mark Twain and is usually accompanied by a picture of two men preparing to do battle with shovels over an irrigation ditch.

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A River Between Us: Lessons in conflict resolution

Nov 21, 2015

“A River Between Us” is a new documentary by former Oregon Sen. Jason Atkinson and filmmaker Jeff Martin. The documentary provides  useful background on the Klamath restoration and, as much as possible given the multiple parties and diverse interests at stake, creates a coherent narrative of the community’s efforts toward resolution.

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Through Bears Ears, tribes lead the way for true collaboration over Utah’s public lands

Nov 09, 2015

The Bears Ears proposal (so named for a pair of distinctive buttes said to resemble the crown of a bear rising out of the earth) encompasses a remote and culturally significant area of the Colorado Plateau fanning upstream from the confluence of the San Juan and Colorado Rivers.

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So little time, so many expectations—are they manageable?

Oct 26, 2015

For several years my role has been as a mediator, facilitator and/or attorney working in complex, multi-party environmental settings. I have finally faced facts—people are living in their own fantasy worlds.

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Ready or not: Enhancing the readiness of communities to prepare for and manage climate-related risks

Oct 12, 2015

Climate change can no longer be avoided. Here in the Mountain West, this will mean more frequent and more severe drought and wildfire.

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NEPA’s fatal flaw, an impediment to collaboration

Sep 28, 2015

Straddling the Oregon-California border, the Klamath Basin is home to the PacifiCorp-owned Klamath Hydroelectric Project; six power-generating dams along the Klamath River.

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A is for A**hole

Sep 14, 2015

While preparing for a particularly difficult facilitation recently, I decided to consult my conflict resolution reading list for inspiration.

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Finding joy in complexity: Managing sage-grouse

Aug 31, 2015

Greater sage-grouse, a chicken-sized bird which inhabits the vast sagebrush landscapes of the Western U.S., has become the posterchild for current debates over the Endangered Species Act.

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Responding to climate-related risks: Why collaboration is key

Aug 17, 2015

As I write this blog, 13,000 Californians are evacuating their homes to escape wildfires, which are spreading with unprecedented speed due to extremely dry conditions after five years of drought.

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Canyonlands Research Center collaboration: A student’s perspective

Aug 03, 2015

The Canyonlands Research Center (CRC) in Southeast Utah is an excellent case study of collaboration between scientists and land managers. I have been studying this venture for my graduate work at Utah State University.

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Water diplomacy… in the West?

Jul 17, 2015

Throughout the western US, drought conditions have made water a pressing issue on many people’s minds. While the water shortage problem is clear, the solutions are not.

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Facilitation…or something more?

Jul 06, 2015

So what is different about facilitation by seasoned environmental conflict resolution (ECR) practitioners? After all, there are countless individuals, small organizations, and staff within large environmental, architecture, and engineering firms who claim they can run meetings.

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Let’s be honest: Doing group processes right

Jun 22, 2015

It seems intuitive: Vocal opposition to an issue? Bring the sides together in a problem-solving group. It’s the best way to resolve an issue. But is it?

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Still brokering peace between people and prairie dogs

Jun 08, 2015

It’s been over a year since my prairie dog EDR blog highlighted the collaborative effort that helped develop the federal low-effect habitat conservation plan for the Utah prairie dog in residential and commercial development areas of Iron County, Utah.

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Bridging a Utah cultural divide: What’s environmental education got to do with it?

May 26, 2015

With over 100 groups involved in environmental education (EE) in Utah, why don’t we talk to each other about issues and best practices?

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The value of iterative NEPA and collaboration

May 11, 2015

In 1970, Congress passed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requiring federal agencies to consider the environmental impacts of management actions and to provide for public participation in the process.

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Cultivating a culture of dialogue rather than debate

Apr 27, 2015

Earlier this month, I attended an MIT campus-wide debate. Watching the event play out, I was struck by the strengths and weaknesses of a debate approach to tackling tricky social issues.

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Utah program on collaboration

Apr 13, 2015

“We’re bureaucrats and we have tendencies,” but “when there’s a high level of collaboration, there’s trust and decisions can be made quickly and efficiently.” –ENR agency leaders

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Fracking in populated areas: The most literal application of ‘not in my backyard’

Mar 31, 2015

With a not-insignificant modicum of success, a recent sea change in public, industry and non-profit collaborative efforts on public land issues has altered the atmosphere of environmental dispute discourse.

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Ingenious EDR Designs are Human Centered

Mar 16, 2015

“When you let people participate in the design process, you find that they often have ingenious ideas about what would really help them. And it’s […]

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EDR: Three pieces of advice

Mar 02, 2015

“Starting complex negotiations without an assessment is like performing surgery without any diagnostic tests.” This is one of the jewels of knowledge in Howard S. Bellman and Susan L. Podziba’s article titled Public Policy Mediation: Best Practices for a Sustainable World.

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Tracking EDR progress: Looking to the past to guide the future

Feb 17, 2015

Environmental challenges seem to have become more difficult and polarized over the years. Climate change is a case in point, and one of many.

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Open discussion is the answer

Feb 02, 2015

As human beings we have the ability to form thoughts and ideas in our mind. If not expressed, these notions remain our private property indefinitely.

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Making nice isn’t for everyone

Jan 20, 2015

There are moments that stick with me and seem to gain significance as time goes by, as my life and work evolve. My conversation with Miguel over 25 years ago is one of those moments.

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Book review: Everything Is Workable: A Zen Approach to Conflict Resolution

Jan 05, 2015

Diane Musho Hamilton’s new book “Everything is Workable: A Zen Approach to Conflict Resolution” is deeply personal and practically useful. It gives readers the overwhelming feeling that everything truly is workable.

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Environmental Dispute Resolution year in review

Dec 22, 2014

Since the initial EDR blog post on March 24, 2014, we have posted 19 entries from 14 authors. Our last entry of 2014 contains a summary of our first nine months of blog posts, in case you didn’t get to read them all.

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Collaboration is the solution to ozone pollution

Dec 08, 2014

Late last month, EPA proposed a new national ozone air quality standard that would reduce the permissible ambient ozone concentration by five to ten parts per billion (from 75 ppb to the range of 65–70 ppb).

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Please take responsibility for the energy you bring into this conversation

Nov 24, 2014

Recent experiences have made me feel bipolar about our capability to have respectful dialogue on environmental and natural resource issues.

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Risks were taken in Daggett County, reaping public lands rewards for all

Nov 10, 2014

A landmark agreement in Daggett County demonstrates the value of dialogue on public lands issues. On October 22, negotiators jointly announced an accord that, pending congressional approval, resolves issues that have been festering for decades.

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Getting past politics on climate change

Oct 27, 2014

The polarizing debates over climate change are often about the wrong questions. I go nuts when I hear people debating belief in climate change.

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Seeking middle ground—or new ground?

Oct 13, 2014

I appreciated the thoughtful and thought-provoking blog posted by Lucy Moore, where she discussed her concerns about the levels of advocacy taken by some individuals and groups.

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The wonderful discomfort of changing your mind

Sep 29, 2014

In reflecting on the most important things she learned in the seven years of writing her literary blog, Brainpickings author Maria Popova wrote, “Allow yourself the uncomfortable luxury of changing your mind.”

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Finally sitting at the grownups’ table

Sep 15, 2014

Last March I had the once-in-a-career experience of meeting with senior officials of the China National Peoples’ Congress (NCP) and the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) to discuss strengthening laws to enforce environmental standards.

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Comfortable with uncertainty: Collaboration in the time of forest plan revision

Sep 02, 2014

What’s the key to involving stakeholders in the plan revision process? Be adaptive, flexible, and strive to provide a meaningful, substantive experience for both the forest and participants.

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Taking a risk in the public lands debate: Dialogue about what really matters

Aug 18, 2014

Politicians on both sides of the public lands debate should be lauded for suggesting field trips. Such outings have the potential to foster true dialogue and could form the basis of a constructive problem-solving conversation.

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CDR serves up “a good bowl of soup”

Jul 08, 2014

“A good bowl of soup attracts chairs.” That was the old African proverb quoted by Jonathan Bartsch, principal of Collaborative Decision Resources, on the first day of a three-day seminar about facilitation and mediation of public and environmental conflicts.

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Preemptive “mediation” at energy conference in Helena, Montana

Jun 23, 2014

Energy issues are complex and controversial. They have many local, regional and national stakeholders with divergent viewpoints. However, building relationships early can help reduce conflict.

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What we don’t know about Great Salt Lake

Jun 11, 2014

One of my great privileges these last five years or so has been to serve as attorney for, and president of, the board of Friends of Great Salt Lake. Great Salt Lake is a vastly misunderstood and unappreciated national treasure.

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There. I said it.

May 28, 2014

As a mediator, I am deeply committed to treating all interests fairly, showing no bias or favoritism. And so as an equal opportunity ranter, let me share another thought with you: The righteousness of some environmentalists drives me crazy.

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Can litigation provide an opportunity for collaboration in Capitol Reef National Park?

May 13, 2014

We often think of the initiation of litigation as a shot across the bow. A thrown gauntlet. A call to arms that signals the start of a long adversarial contest, at the end of which one party may view themselves as the victor and the other party as the victim.

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EDR and the built environment: Addressing homelessness

Apr 29, 2014

Think about the word “environmentalism.” What do you think of? If you’re like me, you think of protecting crystal-blue mountain streams and sandstone slot canyons.

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Brokering peace between people and prairie dogs

Apr 14, 2014

The Utah prairie dog, which only occurs in southwestern Utah, has been protected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) since 1973.

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The Mountain Accord: A model of environmental conflict resolution for the Wasatch Mountains?

Mar 28, 2014

Our urban communities adjacent to the Central Wasatch Mountains have an intimate and interdependent relationship with the mountains.  In essence, our health, security, and economic prosperity are dependent on this mountain range.

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Are we wired to cooperate?

Mar 28, 2014

Consensus, thought of as a noun, is the outcome of negotiation, collaboration or dialogue. When all the participants in a disagreement find a solution they can live with and are willing to implement, consensus has been reached.

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Collaboration and partnerships in public land management

Mar 25, 2014

Partnerships and collaboration seem to be all the rage in public land management. But do the feds truly understand what collaboration is or how to set up a sustainable partnership? 

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Welcome to the EDR blog

Mar 24, 2014

Welcome to the EDR blog, hosted by the University of Utah’s Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) program. The EDR exists to educate students and the public about the possibilities for collaboration, mediation and other dispute resolution processes as alternative methods to resolve public policy conflicts, especially around environmental and natural resource issues.

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