
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.

INNOVATING ACROSS BOUNDARIES FOR
Parks • Cultural Sites
Protected / Conserved Areas

Parkwire, GWS’s daily global digest
of park news • Follow on FB
Latest top headlines • 26 June 2026
Former USNPS rangers held a teach-in on Juneteenth at Harpers Ferry NHP to present an exhibit containing the names of hundreds of enslaved people that had been canceled by the Trump censorship campaign. https://buff.ly/df2jjM4
Previously undisclosed spending on Trump's DC projects is coming from USNPS accounts that were meant for NP repairs. https://buff.ly/zKa81eR
Trump announced a partnership with a tech firm to preserve DNA samples from every species on the Endangered Species List. https://buff.ly/8L5PGz0
An appeals court has relieved Trump from a very short lower-court timeline to restore censored materials in NPs. The rest of the lower court's ruling, to stop the censorship campaign, remains in place for now. https://buff.ly/XxNJb4o
A new study shows the mining companies are putting increasing pressure on forested PAs. https://buff.ly/5EZnnhS
The so-called Alligator Alcatraz immigrant detention center inside Big Cypress NPres is being dismantled. https://buff.ly/gkOlF6Y
Trump blamed vandals for the failure of the makeover of the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall; several people have been arrested, but it's unclear whether the charges will be sustained. https://buff.ly/6MOOF31
Some USNPS employees have been directed to wear pins touting Freedom 250, Trump's semi-private group set up alongside the official group designated to coordinate the US semiquincentennial. https://buff.ly/GKxhifq
Congressional Democrats are strongly opposing Trump's waiver of environmental laws to allow a border wall and other infrastructure to be built inside of Big Bend NP. https://buff.ly/kymprOf
In other developments in the censorship fight, an appeals court overturned a judge's ruling that ordered the restoration of slavery exhibits at Independence NHP in a city brought by the city of Philadelphia. This is separate from a suit in which a judge ordered Trump to halt the censorship campaign. There, the judge today refused to pause her order requiring the restoration of materials in short order. https://buff.ly/uBkYgHX
INSPIRED BY GEORGE MELÉNDEZ WRIGHT

The 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
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with author Jerry Emory!
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