Collaborative Resource Management Workshop

for Western Colorado

Western Colorado is rich in natural resources that contain multiple values for the people of the region, as well as the United States. While Colorado is known primarily for its ski resorts, the western region offers a diversity of resources found in few other places. Western Colorado is truly the land of “mesas, monuments and memories,” to quote a highway sign entering the state from Utah. Western Colorado is also rich in energy resources. Oil and gas development has led to both economic and social boom and bust cycles. Currently the region is witnessing resurgence in energy development, principally in the area of coal bed methane.

The region’s focal point, however, is the Colorado River, which provides water for irrigation, recreation, ecological sustainability, and human settlement. The Colorado River valley and its main tributaries flow from rugged forested and mountainous uplands popular to recreational enthusiasts. The river’s flood plain is home to diverse agricultural practices from livestock grazing and grain production to fruit and vineyard operations. Numerous native fish and wildlife, some endangered, also depend on the Colorado.

The region’s resources are managed by numerous public agencies at the federal, tribal, state and local level. The diversity of resources and resource values, coupled with the large number of public agencies actively involved in natural resource management, has created difficult challenges for public managers. Add to this the growing social diversity within New West communities and the evolving professional diversity within public agencies, and you have a complexity of resource management challenges that few regions rival.

While interagency coordination, consultation, and public involvement have helped address many of these challenges, more work is needed to enhance existing efforts and bridge existing gaps. Moreover, resource managers are growing ever more conscious of the interconnectedness of natural resource components, the need to focus on larger ecosystems, including their dynamic social, economic, and ecological components, and the recognition that ecosystems seldom follow jurisdictional boundaries.

As many agencies are discovering, addressing these growing challenges and systematically managing natural and cultural resources requires a modified approach. Agencies and publics are finding such an approach through Collaborative Resource Management (CRM). CRM is a systematic process through which agencies and publics achieve multiple goals while respecting mandates, policies, and cultural differences. CRM is a comprehensive set of principles, processes, and skills that change the way organizations and individuals interact. CRM also changes the ways in which science is developed and integrated into decision-making processes, resulting in more inclusive scientific procedures that better address ecosystem complexity and uncertainty. CRM is not a panacea for natural resource conflict. Where it has been effectively implemented, however, CRM has shown great promise in a growing number of difficult and complex resource management situations.

The Ecosystem Management Initiative in the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Collaborative Action and Dispute Resolution, is offering a 4½-day interagency training workshop on CRM that is tailored to Western Colorado. The workshop combines relevant case studies and field trips with interactive skill-building exercises and “strategy clinics” to help professional resource managers effectively design, manage, and participate in CRM processes at multiple levels. The workshop will be held December 12-17, 2004 at the Adams Mark Hotel in Grand Junction, CO. To reduce barriers to participation, tuition for all participants has been subsidized by participating federal agencies. Participation is limited to 50.

You will learn:

Benefits and Challenges of Complex CRM Processes

  • How CRM is distinct from other public processes
  • Characteristics of problems that make them amenable to CRM
  • Social, economic and ecological benefits of CRM
  • Hidden challenges to effective CRM

Processes and Skills that Facilitate Effective CRM

  • Stages or phases of CRM – assuring legitimacy, accountability and credibility
  • Interest-based negotiation and collaborative problem-solving skills
  • Benefits of third-party assistance in facilitating and enhancing CRM

Design and Management (Care and Feeding) of Effective CRM

  • Assessment strategies for determining whether CRM is appropriate
  • Process design strategies and ad-hoc structures – grounding the process
  • Convening and gathering considerations and techniques
  • Care and feeding of the ongoing process and participants
  • Working with the media and other observers

Integrating Science and Adaptive Management into CRM

  • Reconciling existing data and information conflicts
  • Joint fact-finding – avoiding advocacy science traps
  • Building adaptive management into the CRM process – dealing with uncertainty
  • Identifying and evaluating outcomes

Strategies for Overcoming Common and Difficult Barriers to CRM

  • Dealing with the human and cultural dimensions of CRM
  • Navigating the legal and political challenges
  • Follow through – taking knowledge and skills back to your organization
  • Creating a more collaborative culture – next steps

For more information visit

or contact Heather Rorer at 734-615-6512 or