Looking for an awesome park-specific academic conference to attend this year? If so, consider submitting a proposal to GWS Park Forum 2026, happening in Knoxville, TN this year! Read the full CFP at the following link: www.georgewrightsociety.org/parkforum-2026

Big news for #conservation and cultural heritage! Seth Kannarr, Ph.D. Candidate @utkgeography.bsky.social explains how the Ocmulgee Mounds in Georgia may soon earn the prestigious designation of National Park. buff.ly/Bm65LE4 📌 Should more historical and cultural sites receive national park status?

Trump administration replaces America 250 quarters honoring abolition and women’s suffrage with Mayflower and Gettysburg designs buff.ly/pctFoy7

Ocmulgee Mounds in Georgia, which contains 12,000 years of Indigenous history, may become the newest U.S. national park. But here's the catch: the redesignation won't actually offer additional legal protection or funding for the site. buff.ly/3xXsR9p

Today, the Interior Department rolled out one of the biggest changes to national park access and fees in years, if not decades, and it will reshape how people—both U.S. residents and international visitors—get into places like Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. #nationalparks #parkchat

While Trump may believe it’s ‘seditious’ for members of Congress to remind the US military that some orders might be illegal and shouldn’t be followed blindly, a survey of troops earlier this year found that most understand what the law requires buff.ly/Kq2TASq

Many members of the PASG attended the George Wright Society’s ParkForum 2025 workshop from October 20-23rd! It was great to reconnect and be with likeminded scholars and practitioners who love parks and protected areas like we do! Enjoy a few of the group photos we shared! #GWS #ParkForum

Students and instructors from GEOG 200: Environmental Issues in National Parks and GEOG 345: People and Environment spent the day at Look Rock along the Foothills Parkway in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

More Americans are biting their tongues, not because they don’t care, but because they’re afraid to speak. From DEI to the war in Gaza, people are more afraid to speak their minds now than during the Red Scare, according to a political scientist who has been conducting surveys. buff.ly/Ls2m7mv

PhD candidate Seth T. Kannarr recieved the Warren E. Roberts Graduate Student Paper Award at the ISLPMC Annual Meeting! His paper was titled “Public Memory in Your Pocket: Analyzing Coins as Everyday Geographies of American Identity.” Congratulations Seth!

Check out @sethographer.bsky.social's review of Jonathan B. Jarvis & T. Destry Jarvis's "National Parks Forever: Fifty Years of Fighting and a Case for Independence," published in 2022 by @uchicagopress.bsky.social; review now available @hnetreviews.bsky.social #envhist www.h-net.org/reviews/show...

As summer travel begins, Congress is considering a bill that could sell off parts of protected wilderness in NV & UT, threatening lands once called America’s “geography of hope.” Writer Wallace Stegner once warned: lose wilderness, and we lose part of ourselves.

Congrats to PhD candidate Seth Kannarr who was recognized with the Extraordinary Graduate Student Teaching Award at the Academic Honors Banquet!

@us.theconversation.com showcased Seth Kannar and Derek Alderman's work on what place names and renaming tell us about power. theconversation.com/from-greenla... #edusky #geosky @derekgeographer.bsky.social @macalestercollege.bsky.social

Greenland to "Red, White, and Blueland"? The Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America"? #Geography scholars explore the contentious world of geopolitical rebranding - and what it does to our psyches. buff.ly/DXrbKcc #polisky

National monuments have grown and shrunk under US presidents for over a century thanks to one law: The Antiquities Act

Interested in contributing to a special issue of The Geography Teacher on 'National Parks and Protected Areas'? If so, please review the attached solicitation letter! We'd love to see PASG members make their presence known on this special issue! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

@i-name.bsky.social This place naming takeover has gone beyond unserious. Are we sure this isn’t a prank, or an article from The Onion? www.thedailybeast.com/new-gop-bill...

The place naming takeover continues.

An important announcement from the Governor of Illinois.

Can Trump just order new names for Denali and the Gulf of Mexico? A geographer explains who decides what goes on the map: https://buff.ly/3WtQTuD Photo: Known as Mount McKinley until 2015, Denali’s current name reflects what Native Alaskans call the mountain. Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Professor Derek Alderman @derekgeographer.bsky.social provides insight on the connections between place names, identity, and power in response to suggestions that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed. 👉 Read the article from the Washington Times: www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/ja...

Consider joining us out at ParkForum 2025, hosted by GWS (George Wright Society) from Oct. 20-23, 2025 in Missoula, MT! The call for proposals is live now through April 1st, learn more on their website: www.georgewrightsociety.org/parkforum-2025

Applications are due for summer positions with the Scientists in Parks program by January 19th! Learn more at the following link: www.scientistsinparks.org