Eastern Oregon University > Current News > Oregon Humanities: Former Director of National Parks Service Live Onstage in Pendleton

Oregon Humanities: Former Director of National Parks Service Live Onstage in Pendleton

Oregon Humanities: Former Director of National Parks Service Live Onstage in Pendleton

LA GRANDE, Ore. – Oregon Humanities will present a live onstage conversation about public lands with Chuck Sams, former director of the National Parks Service, on April 9, 2025. In conversation with Adam Davis, executive director of Oregon Humanities, Sams will explore how public opinion informs public policy. 

Charles “Chuck” F. Sams III

How does traditional ecological knowledge factor into federal land management? How can we balance differing perspectives regarding highly contested issues like climate change and water rights? How do our relationships with the land impact the laws that govern it?

Charles “Chuck” F. Sams III is Cayuse and Walla Walla and an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Northeast Oregon, where he grew up. He also has blood ties to the Cocopah Tribe and Yankton Sioux of Fort Peck.

This event will take place at the Pendleton Center for the Arts, 214 N Main St, Pendleton, OR 97801. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the event will begin at 7 p.m., ending at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are available for $15 (General Admission) and $30 (Conversation Starter). To purchase tickets, use this form. To ensure that everyone who wants to attend is able to, a portion of tickets are offered free of charge. To request a no-cost ticket, use this form.

Sams most recently served as the nineteenth director of the United States National Park Service from December 2021 to January 2025. Before that, he was Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s appointee to the Pacific Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NW Council). Before joining the NW Council, he served as executive director for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. For thirty years, Sams has worked in tribal and state government, and in the nonprofit natural resource and conservation management field, with an emphasis on the responsibility of strong stewardship for land preservation for this and future generations. 
For more information about this event, visit oregonhumanities.org.