- Gary Everhardt
Gary Everhardt began his NPS career as an engineer in 1957 and rose to the superintendency of Grand Teton National Park in 1972. Favorable notice there propelled him to the directorship in January 1975. As director he oversaw a great increase in park development and interpretive programming for the bicentennial of the American Revolution. The return of an NPS careerist to the job was much applauded by park employees and supporters, but Everhardt's leadership fell short of expectations, and the new Carter administration returned him to the field as Blue Ridge Parkway's superintendent in May 1977.
The ninth Director was born (1921-present) in Lenoir, N.C., took a civil engineering degree at North Carolina State, served as an Army officer, and became a NPS engineer. As Director (1975-77), he led NPS through the implementation of the Bicentennial observance. NPS conduced activities at 250 sites coast-to-coast. Everhardt pushed wilderness designation and hailed a Presidential proposal for a $1.5 billion Bicentennial Land Heritage Program.
During his Directorship, a policy council was created, which produced management objectives for the Service. Other first were the first national symposium on urban recreation; the first national conference on scientific research; the first Native crafts sales program in parks; and the first international park publications, PARKS. [65th Anniversary, National park Service, August 25, 1981; ] [http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/hisnps/NPSHistory/direct.htm]
Further Reading
*Rettie, Dwight F.; Our National Park System; University of Illinois Press; Urbana, Illinois; 1995
*The National Parks: Shaping The System; National Park Service, Washington D.C. 1991.ee Also
*
National Park Service
*Ronald H. Walker - 8th Director
*William J. Whalen - 10th DirectorReferences
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
