The George Wright Society :: Parks, Protected Areas, Cultural Sites

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Major restoration work slated for famed lighthouse at Cape Hatteras NS

Submitted by admin on Fri, 01/27/2012 - 10:58

A $1.89 million contract has been awarded to resume restoration of the famed Bodie Island Lighthouse located near Oregon Inlet.

Denver Service Center has issued a notice to proceed with the award of contract to the prime contractor, United Builders Group, LLC from New Bern, North Carolina.

Read more

Colombia: Two rare monkeys, part of only known population in a PA, located in Selva de Florencia NP

Submitted by admin on Fri, 01/27/2012 - 10:21

Researchers with The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Colombia’s National Parks Unit have located at least two individuals of brown-spider monkey (Ateles hybridus) in Colombia's Selva de Florencia National Park. The discovery is important because its the only known population of this particular subspecies (Ateles hybridus brunneus) in a protected area. Read more

Poland: EU demands explanation of open-cast mine permit in Natura 2000 PA

Submitted by admin on Fri, 01/27/2012 - 10:18

Brussels – The European Commission is warning Poland over a breach of nature protection legislation. The case concerns a failure to assess the environmental impact of open-cast mining in a Natura 2000 conservation area at Goplo Lake in North Central Poland. On the recommendation of Environment Commissioner Janez Poto?nik, the Commission is sending a reasoned opinion and asking Poland to comply within two months. If it fails to do so, the Commission may refer the case to the EU Court of Justice. Read more

Georgia: Conservationists claim changes in country's law will allow hunting in PAs, killing of endangered species

Submitted by admin on Fri, 01/27/2012 - 10:16

TBILISI – Georgia allows hunting of rare animal species, which could lead to their extinction, environmentalists claim.

The legislative changes will also allow hunting in protected areas.

Hunting and protection of species is regulated by a kind of laws used under the Soviet union called normative acts and decrees. The law doesn’t directly says one can kill an animal which is on the Red List, but new normative acts now say that authorities may decide what number of animals can be allowed to be killed. Read more

House moves bill to study NHT dedicated to Buffalo Soldiers, historic protectors of Sequoia & Yosemite NPs

Submitted by admin on Fri, 01/27/2012 - 10:12

WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday saluted the Buffalo Soldiers who once rode through the San Joaquin Valley of California and protected Sierra Nevada public lands.

Despite some Republican resistance, the House approved legislation to study establishing a new national historic trail that could range from Los Banos and Madera to Yosemite and Sequoia national parks. The trail would commemorate the African-American cavalrymen who made the dusty trek around the start of the 20th century. Read more

Pair of rare albatrosses produce second chick on Midway Atoll NWR

Submitted by admin on Fri, 01/27/2012 - 10:08

To the delight of scientists, a pair of lovers returned to Hawaii this year for what might turn out to be an annual sojourn. The two birds are endangered short-tailed albatrosses, and for the second time in the species’ recorded history, they nested there, producing a chick on American soil.

Most short-tailed albatrosses breed on a volcanic island in Japan, and scientists hope they are seeing the beginning of a new breeding colony that could help ensure the species’ survival in the event of a catastrophic eruption. Read more

Sample the current issue of our journal, The George Wright Forum

Volume 28, no. 3 • December 2011

The National Park Service Centennial Essay Series: Is it time to rethink the Organic Act?

1916
The Organic Act—the 1916 law that created the US National Park Service—has been the subject of debate ever since the ink was dry on the legislation. It instructs NPS to both preserve the national parks and promote their enjoyment, and many scholars have found in that dual mandate an inherent contradiction. At the same time, other equally learned analysts have said that there is none, and that preservation in the parks clearly trumps use. In the latest NPS Centennial Essay, legal scholar and long-time parks observer Robert Keiter considers whether the language and concepts of the Organic Act have become obsolete in light of new understandings and new challenges, and offers his considered opinion on whether the act should be amended, overhauled, or left alone. Read the essay

Check out these recent publications by GWS members:

Vital Signs Monitoring: Overviews • Jerry Freilich et al., eds.
An inside look at I&M in Washington state

Warfare Ecology: A New Synthesis for Peace and Security • Gary Machlis et al., eds.
Explains and explores the new field of warfare ecology

Uncertain Path: A Search for the Future of National Parks • William C. Tweed
A challenge to some of the basic assumptions behind US national parks

What's your passion?

At the GWS, our passion is protected areas: the special places—natural areas and cultural sites alike—that are being safeguarded for perpetuity by people like you all over the world. We are dedicated to building the knowledge needed to protect, manage, and understand protected areas around the globe. The GWS is the one organization whose sole focus is on the scientific and heritage values of parks and other kinds of protected areas, from the largest wilderness area to the smallest historic site. Are these your core values too? Then help us make them a reality!

What is the George Wright Society?

The society is dedicated to the protection, preservation, and management of cultural and natural parks and reserves through research and education.

The GWS is a nonprofit association of researchers, managers, administrators, educators, and other professionals who work on behalf of the scientific and heritage values of protected areas. When many people think of parks, they think of them exclusively in terms of being vacation destinations and recreation areas. But the heart of parks, protected areas, and cultural sites is the resources they protect. The GWS is dedicated to protecting and understanding these resources by promoting scientific research and cultural heritage scholarship within and on behalf of protected areas.

By “protected areas,” we mean a broad array of places—both “cultural” and “natural”—managed by different entities: parks at all levels; historic and cultural sites; research areas and designated wilderness within national and state forests, grasslands, wildlife refuges, and other public lands; tribal reserves, traditional indigenous cultural places, and community-conserved areas; marine, estuarine, freshwater, and other aquatic sanctuaries; private land-trust reserves; and similarly designated areas. Find out more

GWS News

Trumpeter swan conservationists honor George Melendez Wright with new award

Submitted by admin on Fri, 12/30/2011 - 11:40

Since 1968, the Trumpeter Swan Society (www.trumpeterswansociety.org) has worked to restore populations of this magnificent bird, which teetered on the brink of extinction in the Lower 48 states in the 1930s. George Melendez Wright played a key role in making sure the species was not extirpated from the Greater Yellowstone Area, one of its last strongholds. He brought attention to and fought against illegal shooting of the birds, and also successfully advocated for the creation of a national wildlife refuge in the Red Rock Lakes area of Montana. These efforts helped turn t Read more

Park Break program for 2012 set; applications being accepted through January 20

Submitted by admin on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 12:26

Park Break is an all-expenses-paid, park-based field seminar for graduate students contemplating a career in park and land-use management or related research and education fields. Park Break puts you in a national park unit for a week's worth of field and classroom activities in close collaboration with scientists and scholars, managers and administrators, and partner organizations. As a member of small team of grad students, you will work on a specific topic or project of relevance to the park. Read more