John S. McCain III
National Center for Environmental Conflict Resolution

Training Program

The National Center’s training curriculum is grounded in more than 25 years of experience in collaboration and consensus-building work on a wide range of environmental, natural resources, and public lands issues.

Our training courses provide participants with essential negotiation and conflict management skills as well as opportunities to practice collaboration and conflict resolution skills in the context of environmental and public policy issues. Our students learn practical strategies for resolving a wide variety of contentious issues and emphasize collaborative problem-solving processes that create opportunities for dialogue, mutual understanding, and respect in environmental conflicts. This approach builds long-term relationships and produces enduring and creative results to settle intractable environmental problems.

The skills that I learned in this course will be of significant use to me in my job. They will help me improve facilitated settlements of cases that I am involved with and will better position me to effectively deal with persons and/or organizations that have seemingly immovable positions/views.

- NCECR Training participant

Our trainings use a "learning by doing" approach that provides practical, hands-on opportunities to practice skills that simulate real-life situations. Our trainers are experienced professional facilitators and mediators and bring extensive applied experience to the trainings. Our trainings help participants to:

• Develop essential skills to manage the complexities of multi-party conflict.
• Practice effective communication and collaboration skills to build long-term relationships.
• Develop the capacity to design and implement effective and inclusive collaborative problem-solving processes.

There are no prerequisites for our trainings, and professionals from all fields are welcome to join! Click here to see available courses and register now!

When engaging a diverse group of stakeholders to move forward a contentious issue, I feel more prepared to effectively listen, communicate and move the process forward.

- NCECR Training participant

Group Training

Our training courses can be offered virtually or on-site at a location of your choice to provide you and your group with opportunities for skill building in environmental collaboration and conflict resolution.

Click here for information regarding on-site group trainings for your agency or organization.

The trainers knew a lot about [our organization] already. We didn’t have to go back to basics and spend time on education. It was great to jump in and not slow down.

- NCECR Group Training participant

Foundations of Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution (ECCR): 3-Course Certificate

The Udall Foundation offers a Foundations of Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution Certificate for professionals in government, nonprofits, or the private sector who would like to broaden their communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution skills. The 3-Course Foundations of ECCR Certificate provides participants with a foundational understanding of:

• Principles of interest-based negotiation in multiparty settings.
• How situation assessments can help to determine if a collaborative process will be effective.
• Process design for effective and inclusive collaboration and conflict resolution in environmental and public policy arenas.
• Skills and concepts related to one of two focus areas:
  • Collaboration with Native Nations and Tribal Consultation
  • Collaboration in the context of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

To earn the 3-Course Foundations of ECCR Certificate, candidates must complete our core Fundamentals of ECCR Series and 1 of 2 elective courses within a 5-year period.

I so often go to short courses without concrete tools to take away. Here, we developed and practiced concrete tools that will be invaluable going forward as a mentor, mentee, professor, learner, researcher and constituent. Thank you!

- Certificate candidate

Click here to learn more about the 3-Course Foundations of ECCR Certificate.