Tessa Teems

Tessa is a Training Coordinator at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) National Training Center (NTC). In that capacity, she identifies, develops, and delivers training for the planning, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and collaborative action and dispute resolution (CADR) programs. 

Tessa began her federal career in 2001 as a clerk for the US Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection Quarantine, whose mission is to ensure the health and safety of the nation’s food supply. She began her BLM career as a secretary at the Oregon/Washington State Office in 2003. After pursuing a masters degree, Tessa rejoined the BLM in 2007 as a Rangeland Management Specialist in Lakeview, Oregon. In 2011, she accepted a position in Battle Mountain, Nevada as a Planning and Environmental Coordinator for the Mount Lewis Field Office. 

Tessa has been at the BLM NTC since 2012. As a Training Coordinator, she has enjoyed many opportunities to hone her knowledge, skills, and abilities around facilitation, collaboration, and conflict management.

Tessa has instructed Getting to the Core of Conflict and Communication and Facilitating Dynamic Meetings to Achieve Results. She is a BLM CADR coordinator, a member of the BLM collaboration cadre, and is an active member of both the DOI and BLM facilitation roster. She is also a member of the Cispus Collaboration Workshop cadre. She uses the tools and techniques provided in this curriculum to manage conflict on both personal and profession levels, with varying degrees of success. Like you, she doesn’t love conflict, yet she doesn’t shy away from managing it directly (if not gracefully).

Tessa holds a bachelor’s degree in General Agriculture and Animal Science and a Master of Science degree in Rangeland Ecology and Management from Oregon State University. Tessa lives in El Mirage, Arizona (Phoenix metropolitan area) with her husband, three pugs, and a shih tzu.