Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach
Emmett P. Fiske
Crafting Collaborative Partnerships and Educational Processes for Environmental Stewardship
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In his role as chair and facilitator of the Washington Water Resources Forum, Dr. Fiske has directly shaped the development and implementation of the Washington Watershed Planning Act that has become a model for the nation.
Over the past five years, he has been involved in several WSU interdisciplinary initiatives focused on the environment, including the evolution of the Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach (CEREO). In the role of CEREO’s interim director since August 2006, he introduces strategies to do the following: build recognition, participation, and ownership; formulate an effective interdisciplinary research program; and build student awareness of, and involvement in, interdisciplinary course offerings.
Dr. Fiske is passionate about crafting collaborative partnerships to address pressing environmental concerns. These partnerships normally involve a continuum of stakeholder groups affected by past or existing practices, proposed policy changes, or by lifestyle disruptions, and, their collective products invariably exceed the expectations of the individual players. For example, facilitating the 1990-95 Inland Northwest Field Burning Summit produced a cessation of hostilities and voluntary agreement among bluegrass seed producers, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, regulatory agencies, and clean air advocates in Washington and Idaho.
Dr. Fiske has recently built upon that experience through a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit task agreement with the National Park Service (NPS) focused on developing a pilot public policy education demonstration project to refine and improve the smoke management plan for Yosemite National Park and surrounding gateway communities. The pilot has gone exceptionally well, and NPS colleagues within that unit’s Division of Fire and Aviation are currently exploring the possibility of developing a volunteer-based fire education program for phased implementation throughout the National Park system.
Through interactions with Washington, D.C. colleagues within various agencies (including Interior, EPA, CSREES and USDA/Forest Service), Dr. Fiske hopes to establish inter-agency collaboration to design curriculum and training programs for local volunteers to increase public understanding of fire’s role in the ecosystem and its contribution to forest health and community well-being.
Contact
Information
Emmett P. Fiske, Ph.D.
Interim Director
Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach
Washington State University
P.O. Box 644430
Pullman, WA 99164-4430
Telephone: 509-335-6750
E-mail: fiske@wsu.edu |
