Urban Ecology & Conservation Symposium 2025

Welcome to the UERC 2025 Symposium!  We are looking forward to seeing you on March 17, 2025 at Portland State University.

Please note the following when purchasing tickets:

• If you are purchasing a ticket on behalf of someone else, input the buyer's information (the information that will match the credit card) on the Buyer Information page.  Guest information should be input on the following screen titled Guest Information.
• When purchasing tickets, you will be asked about your meal choice, food restrictions, ADA needs and more.  Please have this information ready when purchasing tickets.
• One ticket per transaction please.  Each attendee needs to be registered  separately to help facilitate accurate event guest records and to ensure correct lunch orders for our attendees.
• If you have a ticket discount code, click on the Enter Coupon Code for Discounted Tickets bar at the top of the screen when prompted.   Discounted tickets will then be revealed and available for purchase.
• UERC is a fiscally sponsored partner of the Oregon Wildlife Foundation.  Please note that your ticket purchase will show Oregon Wildlife Foundation on your credit card transaction.
• If you would like to pay by check, contact Rebecca Roberts at rebecca@myowf.org.  
• For ticket and event questions contact Amy Chomowicz at amy.chomowicz@portlandoregon.gov.  

Our 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

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.