Category: People, Places & Parks

By Rachel Maher, Park Pride’s Director of Communications As we continue to live amid a global health crisis—and assuredly will continue to do so for the foreseeable future—the role of parks and other outdoor spaces has never been more important.   Since 2020, our need for parks has increased dramatically, and it’s become clear that parks […]

By Michael Halicki, Park Pride’s Executive Director Amidst the excitement (and stress) that accompanied the end of 2021—family gatherings, Mayoral Inauguration events, and the emergence of Omicron—the City of Atlanta issued a press release that likely flew under the radars of all but those whose job it is to pay attention to such matters. Posted […]

By Deron Davis, Executive Director, The Nature Conservancy in Georgia The last year challenged us all to reevaluate our priorities and find new ways of getting things done. That’s certainly true for The Nature Conservancy in Georgia, and I’m amazed at what our teams and partnerships accomplished. Through the creativity of our science-driven staff working in […]

By Jared Teutsch, Executive Director Despite lingering concerns over the pandemic, 2022 is shaping up to be a great year for Georgia birds. At Georgia Audubon, birds are our catalyst for conservation—easy to see and hear wherever you are—and they provide an entry point into appreciating nature and understanding the challenges we all face to […]

By Rob Brawner, Executive Director of Atlanta BeltLine Partnership Over the past 15 years with the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, I have witnessed the Atlanta BeltLine transform from concept to concrete—both figuratively and literally – and the momentum has never been stronger. As our partners at Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. (ABI) have captured in this year-end video, […]

By Shannon Lee  One year ago, in January 2021, The Conservation Fund launched the Working Farms Fund, a new program piloted in metro-Atlanta. This innovative program is conserving high value farmland under threat of development and urban sprawl, while also supporting diverse, next-generation farmers, and growing a more healthy and sustainable local food system. After […]

By Jared Teutsch, Executive Director  Birds are one of the most accessible vehicles to connect with the living world around us. We take delight in their incredible diversity of colors, both subtle and gaudy, and their wide array of vocalizations, both strident and melodic. Birds connect people and spaces in ways that few living things […]

By Michael Halicki, Executive Director at Park Pride  Typically, December is a time to reflect over the last year and take stock of what we have done. This year is turning out to be quite different, however. With three major wins for Atlanta parks occurring in the past few weeks, Park Pride is now fully […]

Announcement made at gala honoring former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin On November 4th, Georgia Conservancy held its 27th annual ecoBenefête gala, honoring former Atlanta mayor Shirley Clarke Franklin with the organization’s prestigious Distinguished Conservationist Award. The evening brought together supporters of the Georgia Conservancy’s work to celebrate and reflect on Mayor Franklin’s legacy as a […]

by Nancy Clair Laird McInaney, Board Chair, The Nature Conservancy – Georgia The bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law by the president last week offers an extraordinary opportunity to address critical needs in communities across Georgia and the country.  Its investments in energy, transportation and natural infrastructure will support valuable jobs and economic development.  The […]

By Jared Teutsch, Executive Director Birdwatching exploded in popularity during the pandemic as people began noticing the birds around their homes and in nearby parks and greenspaces. Suddenly, birdwatching is cool! Along with the uptick in birdwatching came an interest in creating bird-friendly landscapes at home and in our local parks and greenspaces. The most […]

By Ruth Pimentel, Park Pride’s Project Manager for Atlanta Community Schoolyards Second grade students at Sarah Smith Elementary School’s Primary Campus have been working hard over the past year. Partnering with professional landscape architects at Park Pride and The Trust for Public Land, these young creatives have collaborated on a design process to create a […]

By: Stacy Funderburke Finding the Flint is an ambitious initiative to restore Georgia’s Flint River near its headwaters at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airport, and connect headwaters communities and a variety of partners and funders to larger landscape scale conservation downstream. Our Finding the Flint Coordinator, Hannah Palmer, is an incredible champion […]

By Jared Teutsch, Executive Director Bird migration is one of the most amazing feats in the natural world. Each fall and spring, billions of birds take to the skies, avoiding predators, and dodging turbulent weather as they travel between breeding grounds in the north and wintering grounds in the Caribbean or Central and South America. […]

As the largest greenspace along the BeltLine, Westside Park is a critical component of the larger BeltLine vision. By Rob Brawner, Executive Director of Atlanta BeltLine Partnership The opening of Westside Park – the largest jewel on the BeltLine Emerald Necklace – has generated much excitement and is the result of years of hard work […]

By Michael Halicki, Executive Director, Park Pride Last month, Park Pride and several environmental nonprofit partners hosted the Mayoral Forum on Greenspace, the culmination of our collective efforts to educate and hear from Atlanta’s next Mayor, (whomever it might be) on the importance and the complexity of parks and greenspace issues. Now, you can visit […]

New film highlights the Swamp and mining proposal The Georgia Conservancy continues to express serious concerns regarding a proposed heavy mineral mine near the edge of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Georgia. In late 2020, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced that under the Trump Administration’s recently-adapted Clean Water Act guidance, […]

Michael O’Reilly, Director of Policy and Climate Strategy, Georgia, The Nature Conservancy Several new reports this summer have painted a sobering view of the challenges we face in combatting climate change.  Coupled with the unprecedented weather events wreaking havoc around the world, the situation can feel overwhelming for many of us.  Yet, amid challenge, there […]

By Jared Teutsch, Executive Director Birds are a catalyst for conservation. Easy to see and hear wherever you are—in parks and greenspaces, in our yards, on city sidewalks, and beyond—birds provide an entry point into nature appreciating and understanding the challenges we all face to protect these spaces, in the city and beyond.  Georgia Audubon […]

By Michael Halicki, Park Pride’s Executive Director Park Pride and our greenspace partners have been hard at work through the better part of this year attempting to develop a rapport with the next Mayor of the City of Atlanta. The challenge, at this particular point in time, is that we don’t know who that person […]