What's The Latest On Search For New National Park Service Director? No One's Saying

Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on April 15, 2009 - 10:23am

Is the next Park Service director going to be named anytime soon?

"Process" is the answer given when you ask folks at the Interior Department why Secretary Ken Salazar hasn't settled on a new director for the National Park Service.

It's going on three months since Secretary Salazar took the helm at Interior. And while he has traveled to the Statue of Liberty to discuss opening the crown to the public, Rocky Mountain National Park to dedicate wilderness, New Orleans to discuss off-shore energy, and scheduled a trip to Alaska, nothing solid has emerged on the search for a successor to Mary Bomar, who left the Park Service at the end of the Bush administration. Since her departure, Dan Wenk has been acting director.

Is this lag unusual? Yes, and no.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s incoming administrations wasted little time in getting their team in place at Interior. George Hartzog Jr. was appointed Park Service director on January 9, 1964, Ronald Walker took the position on January 7, 1973, and Gary Everhardt was appointed director on January 13, 1975.

But things tailed off from there in terms of speed. William Whalen became the Park Service's 10th director on July 5, 1977, Russell Dickenson became the 11th on May 15, 1980s, and William Penn Mott became the 12th on May 17, 1985.

While James Ridenour became NPS director on April 17, 1989, Roger Kennedy wasn't appointed until June 1, 1993, and Robert Stanton not until August 4, 1997. It took the second Bush administration until July 18, 2001 to appoint Fran Mainella director. Mary Bomar took over on October 17, 2006, in the wake of Director Mainella's resignation.

It's hard to say what is delaying Secretary Salazar's decision on a Park Service director. The same names -- Mike Finley, former superintendent of Everglades, Yosemite and Yellowstone; Jon Jarvis, the Park Service's Pacific West regional director; and Dan Kimball, Everglades superintendent -- that surfaced back in December when speculation began continue to be mentioned these days.

Some "dark horse" candidates that have been mentioned in some circles include Tom Kiernan, president of the National Parks Conservation Association; David Vela, the Park Service's Southeast regional director; and Rob Arnberger, a 35-year NPS veteran who was born in Grand Canyon National Park and ended his career as the Alaska regional director.

Fresh off the rumor stand: A choice has been made and will be announced soon.

Whoever gets the nod, there won't be a shortage of work for them to tackle. Foremost, though, the next director must not be afraid to put principle and science above politics and take on issues like snowmobiling in Yellowstone, stocking non-native fish in North Cascades, and park overflights, just to name a small handful of contentious issues.

Too, the next director hopefully will invest more in rangers on the ground and interpretive programs that don't require an iPod or Pocket Ranger but do involve question-and-answer sessions with rangers; put more resources into natural resource inventorying, monitoring, and assessing, and; recruit the next generation of national park rangers, managers, and leaders with an emphasis on diversity to reflect America's populations.

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Comments

Submitted by RoadRanger (not verified) on April 15, 2009 - 5:59pm.

Aside from the serious resource and science issues, the new director will face some daunting fiscal challenges over the next four to eight years even with the so-called stimulus money. The maintenance backlog will continue to grow, budget growth will be minimal at best, and the Service will face declining revenue and support from its non-profit and private sector partners as the federal government seeks to increase control and taxation of these historically generous groups. In addition, the new director must deal with the expectations of an enthusiastic, reawakened environmental community, one that has been marginalized for the last eight years. This director will need to finesse many unrealized expectations in the first term. I agree, Kurt, there will be no lack of challenge and opportunity for the next director. My preference? I'd like to see the Service led by an NPS grunt with a resource management background, one who defends employees and holds them as important as resources, and a team player who can build lasting community partnerships as an alternative to reliance on federal funding. That's a big order, but there are a few folks out there who could qualify.

Submitted by Ray Bane on April 15, 2009 - 7:50pm.

I nominate Bill Wade or Rick Smith.

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