Point Reyes Superintendent Named: Seasoned Professional to Lead National Seashore

Date: April 23, 2010
Contact: Sue Husari, 510-817-1320

National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis today announced Cicely Muldoon as the new superintendent of Point Reyes National Seashore in northern California. She will report to the park in mid-May.

"Cicely brings an incredible mix of professional expertise, creativity, and common sense to every assignment," Jarvis said. "Whether working in parks, a regional office, or headquarters in Washington, DC, she personifies the very best of what it means to be a public servant. She is dedicated to the mission of the National Park Service and committed to making that mission serve her fellow Americans."

Point Reyes boasts 80 miles of spectacular, undeveloped coastline and protects more than 90,000 acres of land including more than 30,000 acres of wilderness. The history-rich landscape important to ranchers and the Coast Miwok people boasts biological resources as well. The park is home to a tremendous diversity of native plants and wildlife—more than 1,000 species—and offers extraordinary recreational opportunities on nearly 150 miles of trails, backcountry campgrounds, and wild beaches.

"Point Reyes is simply a stunning place," Muldoon said. "It has natural beauty, a powerful conservation legacy, active youth education programs, and a wide array of community partners. The park's accessibility and proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area offers a tremendous opportunity to introduce seven million city-dwellers to a spectacular wilderness—all within an hour of home. I can't wait to get started."

The park, created by Congress in 1962, welcomes more than two million visitors every year. Geologically, the park is a land in motion. The San Andreas Fault separates the Point Reyes Peninsula from the rest of the North American continent. Granite bedrock found here matches the bedrock in the Southern Sierra Nevada, indicating that the peninsula has moved more than 300 miles northwest over a period of 100 million years.

The park, an important link in a chain of protected areas, shares boundaries with the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries, Tomales Bay State Park, Marin Municipal Water District Lands, and Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Combined, these places constitute one of the few remaining biologically diverse Mediterranean climate regions on Earth.

Cool things about Point Reyes:

• More than 45 percent of North American avian species and nearly 18 percent of California’s plant species are found at Point Reyes because of the variety of habitats and unique geology.
• In 1988 the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Man and the Biosphere program named the park part of the Central California Coast Biosphere Reserve.
• The cultural history of Point Reyes National Seashore reaches back more than 2,000 years to the Coast Miwok Indians who were the first human inhabitants of the peninsula. More than 100 known archeological sites exist within the national seashore.
• According to many experts, Sir Francis Drake landed here in 1579, the first European to do so.

Muldoon, 44, has served as a deputy regional director of the National Park Service’s Pacific West Region since 2005. The region encompasses more than 50 national parks in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and the Pacific Islands.

Muldoon began her career with the National Park Service in 1985. She has worked at Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the Presidio of San Francisco, and Pinnacles National Monument in California; San Juan Island National Historical Park in Washington State; Sitka National Historical Park in Alaska; Buffalo National River in Arkansas; and the National Park Service headquarters office in Washington, DC. Muldoon served as superintendent of Pinnacles National Monument and San Juan Island National Historical Park prior to her posting in the Pacific West Regional Office.

Muldoon is a native of Sausalito, California, and is a graduate of the University of California, Davis.

She replaces Don Neubacher, who was named superintendent of Yosemite National Park in February.

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