Acting Superintendent Named

Date: February 1, 2007

Debbie Darden has been named Acting Superintendent of New River Gorge National River (NRGNR) for four months beginning February 4th, 2007. She will serve until the National Park Service (NPS) selects a permanent replacement for Cal Hite, who is retiring at the end of January.

"Debbie is familiar with the management issues at New River Gorge," said Sandy Walter, Acting Regional Director for the National Park Service Northeast Region, "and coupled with her previous Park Service experience, she will serve the park well in this interim responsibility."

Darden has been the Deputy Superintendent for Resource and Project Management at New River Gorge National River since 2002. In that position, she coordinated the General Management Plan, an on-going project, and managed the park’s special research and construction projects.

Before moving to West Virginia, she worked for seven years at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania as the Chief of Resource Management and as a Park Planner. Her National Park Service career also includes eight years as a Park Planner in the NPS Northeast Regional Office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she worked with local communities on partnerships projects. She helped to develop the Lackawanna Heritage Valley, a National Heritage Area in Pennsylvania,and Steamtown National Historical Site in Scranton, Pennsylvania. A native of Austin, Texas, Debbie earned a masters degree in Anthropology from the University of Texas, and completed additional graduate work in landscape planning at the University of Pennsylvania. She resides in Beckley with her husband, Richard Segars, New River Gorge National River’s Historical Architect.