George Wright Society

The GWS was founded in 1980 by Robert M. Linn and Theodore Sudia, both of whom had been chief scientists of the U.S. National Park Service. The society was created in response to a need voiced during the first and second national conferences on science in the U.S. national parks (1976 and 1979, respectively): namely, for an independent nonprofit professional association to exchange information useful to natural and cultural resource management. [1]

Membership in the GWS is open to anyone. Most members come from the U.S. and Canada, with other individuals scattered across countries outside of North America. As of 2011, the GWS has 980 members.

Although named in honor of a scientist, from the beginning the GWS has been interdisciplinary: members come from a wide variety of fields, such as archaeology, biology, history, social science, air and water quality, environmental ethics, etc.

The GWS is concerned with parks, protected areas, and cultural sites anywhere in the world. These three overlapping terms cover a broad array of places, both “cultural” and “natural,” managed by different entities under a variety of designations:

• parks at all levels: national/federal, state/provincial, county, and city
• historic, archaeological, and other cultural sites; cultural landscapes; protected landscapes/seascapes
• research areas and designated wilderness within national and state forests; other protected natural areas
• national and state/provincial wildlife refuges, and other similar protected public lands
• natural and cultural areas and sites administered by tribal nations and/or indigenous people; community-conserved areas; sacred natural sites
• marine protected areas; estuarine, freshwater, and other aquatic sanctuaries
• private land-trust reserves

The GWS also encompasses disciplines and activities that link with or otherwise support the work of parks, such as GIS and museum work.

The two main activities of the GWS are both related to the sharing of interdisciplinary information. It organizes the U.S.’s largest professional conference in the field, the George Wright Society Conference on Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites, held every two years; typically, over 1,000 people attend. Recent conferences have included sessions on inventory and monitoring,[2] remote sensing,[3] wilderness,[4] climate change,[5] and cultural heritage interpretation.[6] Between 1981 and 2018, the society published The George Wright Forum: the society's journal on parks, protected areas, and cultural sites. Issues focused on such topics as environmental history and U.S. national parks,[7] civic engagement,[8] integrating science and management,[9] and the 100th anniversary of Parks Canada.[10] In January of 2020, the GWS teamed up with The UC Berkeley Institute for Parks, People, and Biodiversity to found the Parks Stewardship Forum. The Parks Stewardship Forum, "explores innovative thinking and offers enduring perspectives on critical issues across the whole spectrum of place-based heritage management and stewardship. It is the only professional conservation journal with an interdisciplinary focus, publishing insights from all fields related to parks, protected areas, cultural sites, and other forms of place-based conservation."[11]

The GWS promotes greater diversity in the parks professions through three programs: the George Melendez Wright Student Travel Scholarship aimed at minority students, and a Native Participant Travel Grant Program, aimed at Native people from North America, both of which are given to enable attendance at the GWS's conference; and Park Break, a week-long, in-park seminar where graduate students learn about research and resource management issues in the host park.

Through the GWS Awards Program, the society recognizes achievements in Natural Resources, Cultural Resources, Social Science, and Communications, as well as lifetime accomplishments in any of the park-related professions.

The GWS offers a daily news digest, Parkwire, that provides links to research and resource management news from parks, protected areas, and cultural sites around the world.

• George Wright Society website
• U.S. Public Broadcasting System page on George Melendez Wright