The Society of Wetland Scientists, Inc. is an international, professional non-profit organization devoted to promoting understanding, conservation, protection, restoration, science-based management, and sustainability of wetlands. SWS has members in governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, academia and private consulting. However, Society membership is open to anyone with an interest in wetlands. SWS has always been known for being a forum for scientists and managers to meet and work together. Based in Madison, Wisconsin, United States, it has 3000+ members, worldwide. SWS has sixteen regional around the world that provide a local resource for networking, education and other wetland-related events: Alaska, Asia, Canada, Central, China, Europe, International, Mid-Atlantic, New England, North Central, Oceania, Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountain, South Atlantic, South Central, Western. SWS has nine that work to enhance the SWS Annual Meeting by organizing symposia and workshops: Biogeochemistry, Education, Global Change Ecology, Peatlands, Public Policy and Regulation, Ramsar, Wildlife, Wetland Restoration, and Women in Wetlands. SWS has been managed by an association management company, AMPED Association Management, since 2010. SWS is associated with the SWS Professional Certification Program, which works "to identify qualified individuals to assess and manage the Nation’s resources." The certification program is run by a separate office and collects separate membership dues. SWS was founded in March 1980 by Richard Macomber, a biologist with the United States Army Corps of Engineers Board of Rivers and Harbors. That same year, the first SWS Annual Meeting was held in Tampa, Florida, United States. The first president of SWS was James F. Parnell from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. The first issue of Wetlands, the Society's premier, international journal, was published in 1981 as proceedings for the Annual Meeting. Since that time, Wetlands has evolved into a quarterly journal, communicating research to an expanding community of international and interdisciplinary wetland professionals. It is currently published by Springer on behalf of the SWS.
Since 2015, the SWS Europe Chapter has been encouraging more robust protection for the Republic of North Macedonia's Lake Ohrid, one of the most biodiverse inland waters on Earth, and the last remains of a previously extensive wetland along its shore, Studenchishte Marsh. Alongside supporting an initiative by local organizations EDEN and Ohrid SOS to establish both areas jointly as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention, SWS has also released a Declaration on the Protection of the Lake Ohrid Ecosystem, which outlines the importance of the location and proposes various measures for its protection, revitalization and sustainable development.
