Superintendent
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New Superintendent Named For Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Thursday, December 4, 2014

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National Park Service Southeast Regional Director Stan Austin has named Cassius Cash, a native of Memphis, TN, as the new superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Cash, currently superintendent for Boston National Historical Park and Boston African American National Historic Site, will assume his new post in February.

"We are excited to have Cassius joining our Southeast Region leadership team," Austin said. "He has a great reputation as a leader and has proven his ability to effectively work with partners, stakeholders and local communities. We know that he will be an excellent steward of the Smokies, one of the crown jewels of the Southeast Region."

"Cash is an outstanding addition to the senior executive leadership at the National Park Service," said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. "He brings a depth of land management experience with the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service, and his commitment to engaging local communities will support the great work that is happening at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park."

"I wholeheartedly look forward to rolling up my sleeves and working with and learning from a group of dedicated employees at the park who have the privilege of and responsibility for preserving and protecting some of the most precious natural and cultural resources in the country," Cash said. "I also look forward to working with local communities, friends groups, and tribal communities on how the National Park Service can build on innovative ideas to create the next generation of stewards and supporters for this park. The timing for this is excellent because the park service will enter its second century of service to the nation when it observes its Centennial in 2016."

Cash has served as superintendent at the Boston parks since 2010.While there, he worked with the City of Boston to open a new visitor center in historic Faneuil Hall. That facility now welcomes more than 5 million visitors a year. Cash also worked with several park partners to secure $4 million to reopen the African Meeting House, the oldest black church still in its original location in the country.

Cash began his federal career in 1991with the U.S. Forest Service as a wildlife biologist at the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington State. He went on to work with that agency for 18 years in various leadership positions.

He served as an administrative officer in Nebraska, district ranger in Georgia, and a civil rights officer in Mississippi. Cash was the deputy forest supervisor at the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in southern Oregon before transferring to Boston. Earlier this year, Cash served as the deputy regional director and chief of staff in the Northeast Regional Office.

Cash holds a bachelor of science degree in biology from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and later attended Oregon State University to study wildlife management.

Cash, his wife, Vonda and their youngest daughter plan to reside in the Gatlinburg area. Their oldest daughter is attending school in Colorado.



Jeff
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Mark Woods Selected as Superintendent of BRP

Friday, August 9, 2013

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National Park Service Southeast Regional Director Stan Austin announced yesterday that Mark H. Woods has been selected as the next superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Woods has been the superintendent of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park since January 1997. He is scheduled to report to his new assignment in late September.

"Mark brings a strong and consistent track record of quality leadership to the superintendent post at Blue Ridge Parkway," Austin said. "He understands the value of the Parkway as a member of the larger Blue Ridge community. His collaborative skills, operational experience, and commitment to park neighbors, the visiting public, and the Parkway's employees and partners, will serve the National Park Service and the Southeast Region well."

Woods,53, is a career National Park Service employee who began his career in 1980 as a seasonal interpreter in South Carolina. In addition to his 16-year tenure as superintendent at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Woods served as superintendent at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro, N.C., and as acting superintendent at Virgin Islands National Park and the Natchez Trace Parkway, which spans Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. He has also served several times in the Southeast Regional Office - once as the Associate Regional Director for Natural/Cultural Resource Management and Partnerships, and twice as a Deputy Regional Director.

Woods moved up through the National Park Service ranks as a park interpretive ranger,a resource management/law enforcement ranger, a chief ranger, and superintendent or several park units. His other assignments include parks such as Ninety Six National Historic Site in South Carolina, Kings Mountain National Military Park in South Carolina, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in Tennessee, and Cumberland Island National Seashore in Georgia. His career also included employment with the South Carolina Department of Parks Recreation and Tourism.

Woods was recognized with the National Park Service's Superintendent of the Year Award in 1997 for outstanding leadership in the field of resource management. In 2004 he received the National Park Service Sustained Park Accessibility Achievement Award, and in 2005 he received the "Take Pride in America" Federal Land Manager Award.

Woods has extensive experience in gateway community planning, major facility design and construction, land acquisition planning, protection of viewsheds, wilderness management and general management planning.

A native of South Carolina, Woods received a bachelor of science degree in sociology from Lander University in Greenwood, S.C. in 1982, and has completed studies at Texas A&M University, and the University of California at Davis. He and his wife Ginny have three children, Maggie, Mark II, and Grayson, and a granddaughter, Abbie.

"I look forward to joining the staff and many partners of the Blue Ridge Parkway as stewards of this outstanding national treasure, and to make its history and beauty come alive for a new generation of Americans" Woods said. "The Parkway has dramatic stories that are only surpassed by its stunning beauty. It is an ever changing landscape that is simply awe-inspiring."



Jeff
Hiking in the Smokies
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Blue Ridge Parkway Superintendent Phil Francis To Retire

Monday, March 18, 2013

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NPS Digest announced today that Phil Francis, superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway, is retiring.

Since joining the National Park Service in 1972 at Kings Mountain National Military Park, Phil has tirelessly served in a variety of parks that have taken him from coast to coast, including such special places as Shenandoah National Park, Yosemite National Park, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Parks and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

In 1994, Phil transferred to the Smokies after serving for three years as the associate regional director for administration in Southwest Regional Office in Santa Fe, New Mexico. After 11 years as deputy/acting superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Phil was asked to become the sixth superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway, where he has served since 2005.

Phil’s assignments have provided him with the opportunity to work with numerous partner organizations and communities. He provided leadership in the creation of a number of new non-profit partners, including Blue Ridge Parkway 75, Inc., the Institute at Tremont, Experience Your Smokies, and Discover Life in America.

Phil has also been instrumental in the completion of several high-profile planning efforts, including the North Shore Road EIS at the Smokies and completion of the Blue Ridge Parkway’s first ever general management plan. During his career, Phil has had a hand in duties ranging from reenactments to law enforcement to budget formulation to directing a Youth Conservation Corps – and everything in between.

Phil is a 2003 graduate of the Department of Interior’s Senior Executive Service candidate development placement program. In 2005 Phil was awarded the Department of Interior’s Superior Service Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to the National Park Service as assistant superintendent at the Smokies and acting superintendent of the Outer Banks Group and Blue Ridge Parkway as well as numerous other performance awards during his career.

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander honored Phil in the Congressional Record in 2006 for his service at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Discover Life in America, which is conducting the first all species inventory of a national park, named a new species to science after Phil in appreciation for his support of the project.

Phil was born in Shelby, North Carolina, and raised in nearby Grover. He attended Kings Mountain High School and later graduated from Clemson University with a bachelor of science degree in administrative management. Phil is married to Dr. Becky Nichols, a scientist employed by Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and he plans to spend his retirement enjoying the special places and people of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina.

There will be a celebration of Phil’s career on April 6th in Asheville, North Carolina.


Jeff
Hiking in the Smokies
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Bicycles are Welcome on Blue Ridge Parkway, says Superintendent

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

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This past Saturday I posted a blog about some concern within the cycling community regarding the possibility of the Blue Ridge Parkway applying for National Historic Landmark status as a way of managing the parkway, and how it will impact cyclists. In particular, both the Adventure Cycling Association and the Virginia Bicycling Federation have recently expressed deep concern about the future of cycling on the Parkway.

Yesterday, Bicycle Retailer published an interview they conducted with Blue Ridge Parkway superintendent Phil Francis. The superintendent told Steve Frothingham of Bicycle Retailer that "we’ve never had a discussion about limiting bicycle use as part of the GMP (draft management plan) process, not since I’ve been here." Francis also went on to say that "Our plan is to continue to welcome bicyclists; we are not planning to change our policy at all."

To read or listen to the full interview, including comments on a multi-use path parallel to the Parkway, and mountain biking in the Park, please click here.

Public comments on the draft management plan will be accepted through December 16th. You can submit written comments by mail to:

Superintendent Philip A. Francis, Jr.
Blue Ridge Parkway
199 Hemphill Knob Road
Asheville, NC 28803


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com
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Smokies seeks comments on rehabilitation of Newfound Gap Road

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

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The National Park Service (NPS) is proposing to rehabilitate 14.5 miles of Newfound Gap Road (U.S. 441) on the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and to reconstruct many of its stone masonry guardwalls. The work area runs from the Park’s entrance near Gatlinburg to the North Carolina state line at Newfound Gap. Work is scheduled to begin in November 2010 and be completed in phases over the course of six years. The NPS is soliciting public comments in response to an Environmental Assessment (EA) which evaluates the potential resource and other impacts of that proposed action.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent, Dale Ditmanson said, “This action is needed to address the deterioration of the pavement, safety concerns, circulation and parking problems. In addition, the cut stone guardwalls, most of which were constructed about 70 years ago by the Civilian Conservation Corps, are deteriorating with age, impacting the historic character of Newfound Gap Road. All these factors have been increasing the park’s routine maintenance and intermittent repair costs as well as posing safety hazards.”

The EA examines two alternatives; no action and the NPS preferred alternative.

The preferred alternative consists of improving the safety of Newfound Gap Road, improving the condition of the road and associated features, and maintaining the integrity of Park resources. Specific activities under the proposed action, would include: rehabilitation of the road surface, rehabilitation of road shoulders where needed, reconstruction of settled sections of roadway to restore stability of embankment, rehabilitation of existing stone masonry guardwalls, reconstruction of guardwall sections to meet current crashworthiness criteria in areas with a demonstrated safety risk, and adding new guardwall and/or guardrail extensions or transitions in areas.

The EA is available, and comments may be submitted online at the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment website.

Comments must be received no later than April 21, 2010.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.
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Free Mammoth Cave Passage tours on Feb. 14

Friday, February 5, 2010

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Mammoth Cave National Park Superintendent Patrick Reed announced on Wednesday that the park will be offering several fee-free days again this year, beginning with Sunday, February 14. “Please come out and join us for a Mammoth Passage tour on February 14, free of charge,” said Reed.

“We had such a great response from the public last year, we are continuing the free tours days again this year. Just stop by the visitor center to pick up your free ticket.” Visitors must pick up their free tickets at the visitor center ticket office prior to tour times. On February 14, the free guided Mammoth Passage tours will depart from the visitor center at 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 1:00, 2:00, and 3:30.

The ¾-mile, 1¼ hours Mammoth Passage tour enters the cave at the Historic Entrance and follows a route along Houchins Narrows, the Rotunda, the nitre mining artifacts, Audubon Avenue, and Rafinesque Hall. These are some of the mammoth passages for which the cave was named.

“No matter what the weather is doing on the surface, we like to say it’s always a good day to go in the cave,” added Reed. “In winter, the cave is a balmy 54 degrees; in summer it’s a cool and pleasant 54 degrees.”

Camping fees and fees for other tours of Mammoth Cave will not be waived on this day.

The park has scheduled the next fee-free day on Saturday, April 24, during National Park Week.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.
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