UERC Symposia

In addition to the proceedings (PDFs) linked below, since 2018 abstracts are available in a searchable archive at https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/uerc/

Urban Ecology & Conservation Symposium 2025

March 17th 2025

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

More information to be posted as it becomes available.

Submit an Abstract (open through Jan 10 2025)

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 Adjunct Instructor
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commissioner

Additional info to come.

a man with a ball cap and sunglasses in a red shirt holding a black dog sitting on a hay bale with pumpkins behind them

Urban Ecology & Conservation Symposium 2024

March 11th 2024

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

Proceedings

Presentations

Posters

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.