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
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Parkwire, GWS’s daily global digest
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Latest top headlines • 31 July 2026
July 31 is World Ranger Day, set aside to honor protectors who sometimes pay with their lives for conservation. https://mongabay.cc/i79wLw
Archaeologists have discovered hundreds of ancient geometric earthworks that has been covered by forests in the Amazon. https://buff.ly/W53F4fd
Historic preservationists are sounding the alarm over Trump's proposal to weaken Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The president of the National Trust said it would “eviscerate the preservation of our shared civic and cultural heritage in the United States.” https://buff.ly/TKH3fxY
“Southern Spain and southern France are starting to get the weather that North Africa had, and the U.K. is starting to get the weather that Spain or France had 20 years ago": Climate change is fueling devastating heat and fires in southern Europe, but the new reality is striking northern Europe, too: Cairngorms NP, a biodiversity hotspot in Scotland's Highlands, is battling a stubborn two-week-old wildfire. https://buff.ly/JOxJW4j
The mysterious deaths of 15 elephants in Amboseli NP in Kenya are being investigated. https://buff.ly/21qoiQc
Rangers in Vietnam's Pu Mat NP are using an influx of high tech to fight poaching. https://buff.ly/KQLPEGq
The Yurok Tribe is opening a new recreational/welcome center adjacent to Redwoods NP. https://buff.ly/Ik8Y3Ml
O&G leases near World Heritage-listed Chaco Culture NHP could be sold soon under a new Trump policy. https://buff.ly/3R6xTxK
Trump ordered new signs be posted outside the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History stating that some of the exhibits inside are "inaccurate." https://buff.ly/FYDxK5M
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee created 25 new World Heritage Sites at its annual meeting, which just concluded. Nineteen are classified as "cultural," five as "natural," and one as "mixed." https://buff.ly/hfGhdp2
With public funding for science at a record low under Trump, one research lab has turned to a site most commonly associated with adult content to raise money for its research on marmots in the Rockies. https://buff.ly/mpqzVq1
Okefenokee NWR has been named a World Heritage Site at the current annual meeting of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee. https://buff.ly/QeHHmtf
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
Watch our virtual chat
with author Jerry Emory!
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