What's the Latest on the Search for a Director of the National Park Service?

Wyoming's governor wants Rob Wallace to become the next director of the National Park Service. University of Wyoming photo.

While Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has been traveling a lot lately and handing out dollars to the national parks, where is he at on the selection of the next director of the National Park Service? That's a very good question.

It was a month ago that the Traveler reported that the Interior secretary had settled on Jon Jarvis, currently director of the Park Service's Pacific West region, as the next director.

So what's the hold up?

Well, protocol apparently is part of the problem. Traditionally, the president names the nominee, not the Interior secretary. So while I've been assured that Secretary Salazar did in fact point to Mr. Jarvis as his choice, it's up to President Obama to make it official. And then, of course, there's the need to get other nominees confirmed, and the Senate's refusal the other week to confirm David Hayes as a deputy Interior secretary no doubt has pushed back the announcement of a Park Service director.

Could the recent matter of whether a commercial oyster farm will continue in the waters of Drakes Estero at Point Reyes National Seashore hurt Mr. Jarvis's chances of being nominated? The National Academy of Sciences was highly critical of a Park Service analysis on how the operation was impacting the estero, and officials for Point Reyes and Mr. Jarvis found themselves apologizing for the report's errors.

And then, of course, U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., is an advocate of the oyster operation, so her influence perhaps could come to bear on the choice of the next NPS director.

As the delay continues, the governor of Wyoming is trying to stir the pot, writing Secretary Salazar with a request that he name Rob Wallace as Park Service director. Mr. Wallace, it's been said, was odds on to get to be director in 2001 under President Bush, but congressional infighting supposedly scuttled that.

Mr. Wallace, who grew up in Wyoming, has a solid resume. He worked as a seasonal ranger at Grand Teton National Park, a stint that saw him involved with search-and-rescue activities, backcountry patrols in winter, and law-enforcement duties. During the 1970s he joined former U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop's (R-WY) office, and rose to chief of staff as well as GOP staff director for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

In the 1980s he was the Park Service's liaison with Congress. These days Mr. Wallace lives in Washington, D.C., where he manages governmental affairs for General Electric. However, he does serve on the board of directors for the Grand Teton National Park Foundation and the Yellowstone National Park Foundation.