Yellowstone superintendent announces retirement plans
Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk announced Friday he will retire from the National Park Service on March 30, 2019.
Wenk has served as Superintendent since 2011. He manages more than 2.2 million acres of public land, a staff of 800, and an annual budget of more than $60 million.
“I’ve had an amazing career with the National Park Service,” said Superintendent Wenk. “It is an honor and a privilege to preserve national park resources and provide incredible visitor experiences, and I’m not done yet. I’m in the midst of several important projects that I will finish before I depart to ensure the smoothest transition for Yellowstone.”
In the year ahead, Wenk said he will focus on several ongoing projects. Those include implementing the bison quarantine program, collecting data and developing community support for planning long-term visitor use management, negotiating concession contracts, managing transboundary wildlife issues, and working with park staff to improve workplace culture.
Wenk will end his career with 43 years of public service, beginning in 1975 as a landscape architect. He was named Superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Monument in 1985. He served there for 16 years before being appointed director of the Denver Service Station in 2001.
Wenk served as Deputy Director of Operations for the National Park Service in Washington D.C. from 2007 through 2011. He served as Acting Director of the National Park Service for nine months in 2009. In these national roles, Wenk received the Department of the Interior Secretary’s Executive Leadership Award and the Presidential Rank Award.
