By Ashby Nix Worley, Coastal Climate Adaptation Director, The Nature Conservancy Over the last several years, many Georgians suffered from the most costly and common of disasters in the nation—flooding. Fueled by warmer weather, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that 2019 was the wettest on record in the U.S., with historic flooding […]
Category: People, Places & Parks
Posted inThought Leadership
Start with Hope: Articulating a Shared Vision for Public Spaces
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text dp_text_size=”size-4″]By Andrew White, Park Pride’s Director of Park Visioning Park planning can sometimes be messy work! As public spaces, parks are inherently political, each with its own hidden minefields of competing constituencies and entrenched interests. As a professional landscape architect and Director of Park Pride’s Park Visioning Program, it can sometimes feel like I’m […]
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Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program: Great Promise/Rocky Start
Featured Image: Copyright Mac Stone Photography By Deron Davis, Executive Director, The Nature Conservancy in Georgia In 2018, when Georgia legislators almost unanimously approved putting the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Amendment on the ballot and voters approved by an 83% margin the creation of a land and water conservation fund, they knew that protecting and stewarding […]
Posted inPeople, Places & Parks, Thought Leadership
The Nature of Our City
by Teri Nye, Park Pride Project Manager At the beginning of each year, I take stock of the park planning projects in the year ahead. Atlanta is a small, small point of the planet, but with news of each storm, flood, drought, and raging fire around the world, I see that Park Pride’s work in […]
Posted inThought Leadership
Elected Officials Leading the Charge for Conservation
By: Deron Davis, Executive Director, The Nature Conservancy in Georgia The retirement of U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson has helped me look past my disappointment in the disfunction of Washington, D.C. to remember that people with compassion and integrity use the power of their political leadership to make positive change for our communities, the state and […]
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Resolutions for a Warm Winter and a Cool Summer
By Alex Beasley, Donor and Public Relations Manager, Trees Atlanta Talk of politics and climate change inundate our daily lives. If it feels like hope is lost, you’re not alone, but you can make a difference on an individual and community level. Collectively, we can create positive change for future generations. As you make your […]
Posted inThought Leadership
Nature for All – Atlanta
By Adriana Garcia, Nature Accessibility Advocate Over the next 20 years, Atlanta faces significant challenges: a growing population, tensions between new development and the need to preserve trees and urban greenspaces, and climate change. As the city grows denser, articulating and implementing a strong city planning framework that prioritizes urban ecology (a.k.a. nature) is critical […]
Posted inPeople, Places & Parks
Thankful for the Little Things that Lead to Results
By Mary Beth Jordan As the year draws to a close, it’s customary to reflect on the year’s milestones, successes and challenges while setting goals for the coming new year. As the Chair of the Board of Trustees for The Nature Conservancy in Georgia, I am particularly grateful to support work that preserves and protects […]
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Nature on Your Terms: Envisioning a Chattahoochee River that is Accessible to Everyone
By Walt Ray, Director of the Chattahoochee River Program with The Trust for Public Land On a recent sunny afternoon, a group of people with disabilities riding in motorized wheelchairs joined over a dozen members of the visually impaired community and their families to enjoy a nature walk and birding experience along the Chattahoochee River. Walk […]
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Celebrating the Environmental Legacy of President Jimmy Carter
by Georgia Conservancy Communications Director Brian Foster “My thoughts on conservation are grounded in a lifelong love of the natural wonders of Georgia and our responsibility to pass on the land, water, and forests in a better condition than we inherited them,” wrote President Jimmy Carter in his acceptance of the Georgia Conservancy’s Distinguished Conservationist […]
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Update: Atlanta – The City in the Saplings?
By Teri Nye, Park Designer at Park Pride (and person who draws) This column provides an update to Teri Nye’s July 2019 column, Atlanta: The City in the Saplings? and an initial response to last week’s Tree Protection Ordinance Public Meeting. Park Pride is a member of the Atlanta Canopy Alliance, whose goals include educating […]
Posted inThought Leader
Climate Change Requires Action from Each of Us
By Deron Davis, Executive Director, The Nature Conservancy The City of Atlanta, Camden County and other Georgia municipalities are pursuing projects to address the immediate and future challenges that climate change will inflict on communities and economies across the state. From Atlanta’s Clean Energy Plan to Camden County’s innovative coastal resilience pilot project, forward-looking policymakers […]
Posted inhttp://leadership.saportareport.com/people-places-parks/, People, Places & Parks, Thought Leader, Thought Leadership, Uncategorized
If Fall Disappears, How Can We Respond?
By Alex Beasley, Donor and Public Relations Manager, ISA Certified Arborist, Trees Atlanta Atlanta’s summers are becoming hotter, drier, and longer. This is the new norm. Much of the world has undergone ‘climate change-induced seasonal creep,’ meaning fall arrives later and spring arrives earlier each year. As the tropics expand by up to .2 degrees […]
Posted inhttp://leadership.saportareport.com/people-places-parks/, People, Places & Parks, Thought Leader, Thought Leadership, Uncategorized
Small Town Sights
…and Supporting the Communities that Host Them By Georgia Conservancy Senior Planner Nick Johnson In recent years, Georgia’s larger cities have taken great strides toward incorporating sustainability into their designs, plans, and objectives. Atlanta’s new stormwater parks and living buildings have introduced natural systems into the urban fabric, while Savannah has contemplated how to adapt its […]
Posted inhttp://leadership.saportareport.com/people-places-parks/, People, Places & Parks, Thought Leader, Thought Leadership, Uncategorized
Take back parks from invasive plant species!
By Ellen Bruenderman, Director of Community Building and Kayla Altland, Friends of the Park Program Manager Invasive plants are a serious problem in our local parks and are top of mind for Park Pride volunteer staff, our government partners, and Friends of the Park groups. Invasive plant species are not native to the local ecosystem […]
Posted inhttp://leadership.saportareport.com/people-places-parks/, People, Places & Parks, Thought Leader, Thought Leadership, Uncategorized
OktoberForest: Celebrating the Connection between Healthy Forests and Beer
By Marlena Reed, communications & marketing manager, The Nature Conservancy in Georgia The critical link between healthy forests and beer may not be obvious to most people, but it comes down to beer’s main ingredient: water. That’s why Georgia brewers are joining The Nature Conservancy to celebrate OktoberForest, a campaign to raise awareness about the […]
Posted inhttp://leadership.saportareport.com/people-places-parks/, People, Places & Parks, Thought Leader, Thought Leadership, Uncategorized
Can You Walk to a Park within 10 Minutes?
By Jay Wozniak, Georgia Parks Director for The Trust for Public Land One hundred million Americans cannot walk from their home to a park within 10 minutes. According to The Trust for Public Land’s 2019 ParkScore rankings, about 71 percent of Atlanta residents can reach a park in that timeframe, and that number has been […]
Posted inhttp://leadership.saportareport.com/people-places-parks/, People, Places & Parks, Thought Leader, Thought Leadership, Uncategorized
U.S. Senate Joins in the Effort to Save The Right Whale
Georgia’s marine mammal, The North Atlantic Right Whale, numbers only 400. By Brian Foster, Communications Director, The Georgia Conservancy With an estimated global population of only 400, the North Atlantic right whale is in trouble, and a bipartisan measure from the U.S. Senate seeks to provide some much-needed help. The Scientific Assistance for Very Endangered […]
