Paul Tigan
There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.— Marshall McLuhan
Paul leads from a place of curiosity, drawing on his natural resource management, public policy and strategic communication experience as he works with clients and in his community. His growth as a person, colleague and leader is never over!
With a dedication to ensuring his work drives impact for clients and the public good alike, Paul leverages a wide breadth of experiences connecting national and regional natural resource law and policy with on-the-ground leadership and action.
- A Presidential Management Fellow, Paul has served at multiple levels of the federal government and has a keen sense of how organizational culture ties efforts from headquarters to the field.
- He has helped interdisciplinary teams of natural resource scientists successfully navigate decades-old disputes and newly-enacted laws alike, tackled climate-driven disasters, and facilitated solutions to human-centered controversies.
His areas of expertise include:
- Leading diverse teams
- Human dimensions of natural resource management
- Communicating across the rural/urban spectrum
- Organizational strategy across jurisdiction levels
- Communicating complex subject matter
- NEPA, FLPMA, NHPA and other foundational environmental law and policy
Experience
Paul spent thirteen years with the Bureau of Land Management, beginning his career in Washington, D.C., advising agency leadership and communicating priorities to congressional staff and committees as a legislative affairs specialist.
- He transitioned his career toward the West, managing public lands in Colorado’s San Luis Valley and western Oregon, while serving on numerous national and regional policy and strategy teams covering a wide variety of topics, including cultural resources, wildfire, endangered species management, and sustainable timber harvest.
His first job out of college was as an Americorps volunteer, producing a daily 30-minute news show while training community members as volunteer radio journalists.
Paul graduated from the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota with a degree in Creative Writing and a minor in American Cultural Studies. Paul attended the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, where he served as the editor-in-chief of the University of Denver Water Law Review. He recently completed Portland State University’s Executive Seminar in Natural Resources Management, and earned Portland State’s Professional Certificate in Tribal Relations.
In Community
Paul plays an active role as a resident advocate in the City of Salem, Oregon. He has served on the City of Salem’s Citizen Budget Committee for five years, elected twice as chairperson. He serves as the Land Use Chair for the Grant Neighborhood Association, supporting and working with others to create awesome projects that bring communities together, like Salem’s first street intersection mural! In the spring he volunteers as a coach and official scorekeeper for his children’s Little League teams.
Paul and his wife live in Salem, Oregon, enjoying a long-term relationship with a 1926 cottage north of downtown, which is always in need of love and care. Their two children fill his heart and days with laughter, games and hilarious made-up jokes. Paul is usually trying to learn how to play a new musical instrument of some kind—sometimes even trying to build them—but never quite mastering them. He plays on a recreational ice hockey team, loves to be outdoors, and values the time he spends with his family, friends and neighbors.