About us
Mission and History
The Udall Foundation’s mission is to provide programs to promote leadership, education,
collaboration, and conflict resolution in the areas of environment, public lands,
and natural resources in order to strengthen Native nations, assist federal agencies
and others to resolve environmental conflicts, and to encourage the continued use
and appreciation of our nation’s rich resources.
The Udall Foundation is dedicated to embodying and promoting our core values of
integrity, civility, consensus, public service, and non-partisanship in everything
we do. These core values exemplify the legacy of Morris Udall and Stewart Udall
and the way in which they served the public. They provide a framework upon which
all Udall Foundation programs, services, and activities are based. These core values
are realized through both internal management and external educational and conflict
resolution practices.
History of the Udall Foundation
In a fitting tribute to one of the greatest legislators of his generation, Congress
acted unanimously in 1992 to establish the Udall Foundation. The bill creating the
Foundation was the result of a bipartisan effort led by Morris Udall's colleagues
from Arizona, Democratic Senator Dennis DeConcini and Republican Senator John McCain.
The bipartisan support for the Udall Foundation's creation was particularly appropriate,
given Morris Udall's noted ability to build consensus across party and ideological
lines. At the time of his retirement in 1991, 75 House members from both parties
spoke at a special session in his honor, expressing their respect for his integrity,
humor, and dedication to public service. They noted that, while he was most known
for his work on environmental issues, Udall also was a leader in many of the other
major policy debates of the era.
Senator DeConcini stated that the Udall Foundation's creation would both honor Morris
Udall, who focused his legislative agenda on resolving the problems facing our environment
and natural resources, and make a significant contribution to addressing future
environmental issues by "training young people to solve today's environmental problems
and prevent future ones."
In 1998, Congress unanimously amended the Udall Foundation’s enabling legislation to create the U.S. Institute
for Environmental Conflict Resolution, now called the John S. McCain III National Center for Environmental Conflict
(National Center or NCECR), as part of the Foundation. The National Center provides mediation and related services
to help resolve environmental, natural resources, and public lands conflicts that involve the federal government.
Senator McCain introduced the bill creating the National Center, noting that it was fitting for it to be part of
the Udall Foundation, given that Morris
Udall's career "was distinguished by his integrity, service and commitment to consensus-building."
On November 4, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law S. 1818 to enhance the
Udall Foundation and honor public servant and environmental visionary Stewart L.
Udall, Morris Udall’s brother. The Udall Foundation became the Morris K. Udall and
Stewart
L. Udall Foundation in recognition of the historic Interior
Secretary’s contributions
to the United States. The Udall brothers worked together on
many environmental and
American Indian initiatives while Stewart was Secretary of the
Interior and Morris
was a member of Congress.
Among the purposes of the Udall Foundation are
- Increase awareness of the importance of and promote the benefit and enjoyment of
the Nation's natural resources;
- Foster among the American population greater recognition and understanding of
the role of the environment, public lands and resources in the
development of the
United States;
- Identify critical environmental issues;
- Develop resources to properly train professionals in environmental and related fields;
- Provide educational outreach regarding environmental policy;
- Develop resources to train Native American and Alaska Native professionals in health
care and public policy; and
- Through the National Center, provide assessment, mediation, and other related services
to resolve environmental disputes involving federal agencies.