The University of Oregon School of Law is thrilled to welcome Charles F. "Chuck" Sams III as the inaugural Oregon Tribes Scholar-in-Residence and Senior Fellow with the Native Environmental Sovereignty Project in Oregon Law's nationally ranked Environmental and Natural Resources Law (ENR) Center. 

Sams grew up in Pendleton, Oregon. He is Cayuse and Walla Walla and an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Sams has over three decades of experience in natural resource and conservation management and sustainable stewardship. He currently serves as Oregon Governor Tina Kotek's appointee to the Pacific Northwest Power and Conservation Council and as Co-Chair of the Oregon Environmental Restoration Fund. 

During the Biden Administration, Sams made history when he became the first Indigenous person to direct the National Park Service. Throughout his tenure as Director, Sams provided transformative leadership, setting agency-wide priorities to address climate change, uphold Tribal sovereignty, and invest in the future of public lands across the United States. 

Oregon Law Dean Jennifer Reynolds, who worked closely with the ENR Center and campus partners on Sams' appointment, said, "We are tremendously honored to have Chuck Sams join our community and advance our school's commitment to the Oregon Tribes."

As Scholar-in-Residence and Senior Fellow, Sams will share knowledge within and beyond the classroom, advise on research focused on emerging Tribal roles in co-managing lands and resources, mentor students across campus, and work to strengthen relationships with Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest. 

"I am thrilled to have such a visionary thinker with such national stature to contribute to our innovative research," said Philip H. Knight Professor of Law Mary C. Wood, Faculty Director of the ENR Center. 

One of Sams' first endeavors is participating in the popular Oregon Law Perspectives webinar series, where, with Professor of Practice Howard Arnett, he will co-present "Treaties, Trust, and Tomorrow: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Native Lands" on August 8, 2025. Learn more about Oregon Law Perspectives.