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The George Wright Society champions stewardship of parks, protected & conserved areas, cultural sites, and other kinds of place-based conservation by connecting people, places, knowledge, and ideas. By uniting people from many different backgrounds around a common passion for protecting Earth’s natural and cultural heritage, we create the collaboration needed to meet today’s greatest conservation challenges.
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INNOVATING ACROSS BOUNDARIES FOR
Parks • Cultural Sites
Protected / Conserved Areas
INSPIRED BY GEORGE MELÉNDEZ WRIGHT
Watch our virtual chat with author Jerry Emory!
The long-awaited, first-ever biography of our namesake — the visionary who revolutionized management of America‘s national parks
“Emory’s enumeration of Wright’s accomplishments—including a survey of wildlife in Western parks, the first of its kind—is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Highly recommended for nature lovers and park enthusiasts.” LIBRARY JOURNAL
30% discount for GWS members!
A Yosemite ranger's living history portrayal of George Meléndez Wright
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Latest top headlines • 26 July 2024
Jul26—A new project lets people donate money to Tribes that have been displaced from US NPs, earmarked to a specific park. https://buff.ly/3A9jkFF
Jul 26—The Historic Moravian Bethlehem District in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania—a collection of buildings associated with the Moravian Church—has become the US's latest WH Site. https://buff.ly/3WDeR6Z
Jul 26—A plan for a housing development within England's Ironbridge Gorge WH Site has been rejected by local officials. https://buff.ly/3WniGvP
Jul 25—Archaeologists surveying an ancient Roman city that has become submerged in the ocean over the centuries found a remarkably intact mosaic floor along the sea bottom. https://buff.ly/3YeJEZd
Jul 25—A huge wildfire has reached the historic townsite of Jasper, the hub of Canada's Jasper NP. Many buildings have been destroyed. https://buff.ly/3LG79Ts
Jul 24—The World Heritage Committee declined to put Stonehenge on its World Heritage in Danger List, removing a potential obstacle to a controversial road tunnel project. https://buff.ly/3YjMoV4
What sets us apart: Interdisciplinary conservation thinking
GWS’s unique role is to foster interdisciplinary place-based conservation. Specialist organizations and subject-matter professional societies create essential knowledge. GWS operates one level up from that endeavor: we provide opportunities for specialists to go beyond their usual mental boundaries and see how what they know connects with, and complements, what other specialists know. GWS nurtures the kind of context-aware thinking needed to tackle complex conservation problems.
What we create: Innovation
Innovation only comes from open minds. Open minds thrive in a collegial atmosphere that encourages people to think outside their silo, beyond their usual point of view. GWS is the only conservation organization that exists specifically to bring people together from a wide range of points of view in settings designed to allow open-mindedness to flourish. By doing this, GWS creates space for multidimensional learning and collaboration that leads to innovative conservation action.
How we work: Convening
The learning spaces we create are both physical and virtual. We convene opportunities for people to come together in person: face-to-face events that expand communication networks, support mentoring, and build the capacity of park and protected area stewards, cultural and natural resource managers, scientists and other scholars, and teachers and students. We also help create these goods by nurturing a virtual global community of stewardship through publications and online interactions.