Community Planner/Biologist:
Gail Y. Lash, Ph.D

Zoo Designer/Landscape Architect:
Nevin Lash, ASLA

Ursa International offers strong leadership in planning and building tomorrow’s conservation/education facilities in Zoological Parks, Sanctuaries, Museums, Aquariums, Botanical Gardens, Private Wildlife Reserves and Nature Centers, worldwide. We also work in ecotourism planning and community development, promoting Peace as the foundation for human-wildlife interactions and conservation.

Ursa International is a Design and Planning firm that seeks to create harmony between wildlife and human communities.  We specialize in design services to the zoological community for programming, design and construction of conservation-oriented facilities throughout the world, and in planning community-based ecotourism and development projects in and adjacent to sensitive ecosystems.

Ursa International was established in 1994 with offices in our historic 1894 Grant Park Victorian home “Bear Manor” in Atlanta, Georgia and now at our Belizean home in Cayo, Belize.

We are currently licensed to practice Landscape Architecture in Georgia and Pennsylvania, but work nationally and internationally as Animal Management consultants on Zoological Design and Conservation facility planning projects. Ursa International has worked on over 60 major zoo design projects at over 30 institutions in 12 countries - and counting.

Please download a copy of our Qualifications and Project Brief document on our Publications Page. Also take a look at our Blog, where Gail and Nevin contribute commentary on current goings on at Ursa and in the Zoo community.