Island Press began with a simple idea: knowledge is power—the power to imagine a better future and find ways for getting us there. Founded in 1984, Island Press’ mission is to provide the best ideas and information to those seeking to understand and protect the environment and create solutions to its complex problems.
We elevate voices of change, shine a spotlight on crucial issues, and focus attention on sustainable solutions.
Our network of authors includes E.O. Wilson, Paul Ehrlich, Sylvia Earle, Gretchen Daily, Jan Gehl, Daniel Pauly, and many others. By working closely with experts like these, Island Press has developed a comprehensive and growing body of knowledge—vital resources for all those working to protect the environment and create healthy communities.
For more than a century the establishment of national parks and protected areas was a major threat to the survival of indigenous people. The creation of parks based on wilderness ideals outlawed traditional ways of life and forced from their homelands peoples who had shaped and preserved local ecosystems for centuries.Today such tragic conflicts ......
Prairie dogs and the grassland habitat in which they play a key ecological role have declined precipitously over the past two centuries. The current number of prairie dogs is believed to be less than 2 percent of the number encountered by Lewis and Clark in the early 1800s, and only a fraction of grassland ecosystem remains. Conservation of ......
Some ecosystem management plans established by state and federal agencies have begun to shift their focus away from single-species conservation to a broader goal of protecting a wide range of flora and fauna, including species whose numbers are scarce or about which there is little scientific understanding. To date, these efforts ......
It's time to think differently about cities and nature. Understanding how to better connect our cities with the benefits nature provides will be increasingly important as people migrate to cities and flourish in them. All this urban growth, along with challenges of adapting to climate change, will require a new approach to infrastructure if ......
In hundreds of watersheds and communities across the United States, conservation is being reinvented and invigorated by collaborative efforts between federal, state, and local governments working with nongovernmental organizations and private landowners, and fueled by economic incentives, to promote both healthy natural communities and ......
Indicator, Umbrella, Keystone, Flagship, and Other Surrogate Species
The vast scope of conservation problems has forced biologists and managers to rely on ""surrogate"" species to serve as shortcuts to guide their decision making. These species-known by a host of different terms, including indicator, umbrella, and flagship species-act as proxies to represent larger conservation issues, such as the ......
Conservationists have long been aware that politicalboundaries rarely coincide with natural boundaries.From the establishment of early n++peace parksn++to thedesignation of continental migratory pathways, awide range of transborder mechanisms to protectbiodiversity have been established by conservationistsin both the public and private ......
Harnessing the Power of Networks for Social Impact
Something new and important is afoot. Nonprofit and philanthropic organizations are under increasing pressure to do more and to do better to increase and improve productivity with fewer resources. Social entrepreneurs, community-minded leaders, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropists now recognize that to achieve greater impact they must ......
The Transition to Safe and Inclusive Transportation Networks
Across the country, communities are embracing a new and safer way to build streets for everyone'even as they struggle to change decades of rules, practice, and politics that prioritize cars. They have discovered that changing the design of a single street is not enough: they must upend the way transportation agencies operate. Completing ......
