Laura Van Riper, PhD

Laura Van Riper has over 30 years of academic and on-the-ground experience in collaborative and community-based natural resource management and conflict resolution both within the United States and abroad.

For the past 20 years, Laura has served as the social scientist on the National Riparian Service Team  – a national level, field-based, interagency, and interdisciplinary team located in Prineville, OR. The team was focused on increasing the capacity of local, diverse groups to effectively confront and manage technically complex and socially contentious riparian issues throughout the western U.S. 

Laura also works closely with the BLM and DOI Collaborative Action and Dispute Resolution (CADR) programs and is a senior level facilitator on both in-house facilitation rosters. And, she frequently serves as a link between agency headquarters and the field regarding the development and implementation of collaboration and partnership policies, strategies, and workforce development initiatives.

Laura has additional experience with program evaluation, strategic planning, organizational development, team building, and managing peer-to-peer learning networks (communities of practice).