Chip Jenkins becomes Superintendent for NOCA

Chip Jenkins new Superintendent

News Release Date: March 14, 2007

SUPERINTENDENT APPOINTED FOR

NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE COMPLEX

Palmer "Chip" Jenkins, Jr., has been named superintendent of North Cascades National Park, Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, and Ross Lake National Recreation Area in Washington. The appointment was announced today by National Park Service (NPS) Regional Director Jonathan B. Jarvis.

Jenkins, who is expected to assume his new role on April 15, replaces William Paleck who retired at the first of the year.

"I have enormous confidence in Chip," Jarvis said in making the appointment. "He reaches out to visitors and community alike and has a keen sense for the resource."

Jenkins will move to the Sedro-Woolley area from Astoria, Oregon where he is Superintendent of Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.

"I look forward to returning to the first park I ever worked in, getting to know all the community leadership," Jenkins said in accepting the appointment. "I am anxious to work with the superlative park staff." Jenkins began his career in the NPS as a seasonal ranger, based in Stehekin.

Jenkins has worked on some of the Service’s more complex development and restoration issues including expanding the purpose of Fort Clatsop National Memorial to encompass the Lewis and Clark sites along the Washington and Oregon sides of the Lower Columbia. He also served as Assistant Superintendent of Yosemite National Park and Chief of Strategic Planning, helping to create a comprehensive plan for Yosemite Valley.

He also has served as special assistant to the NPS Director, as resource specialist at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, California, and at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument in Colorado.

Jenkins is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara with a bachelor’s degree in geography and environmental studies. He also is a graduate of the NPS Resource Management Trainee Program.

He and his wife, Laurie Lee Jenkins, who also works for the NPS as an ecologist on the Northwest Forest Plan team, will move to the area with their two small children.