| Director of National Park Service | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Appointer | President of the United States |
| Formation | 1917 |
| First holder | Stephen T. Mather |
| Website | nps.gov/aboutus/director.htm |
The Director of the National Park Service of the United States is nominated by the President and requires a Senate confirmation. The incumbent is Charles F. Sams III, who was sworn in by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland on December 16, 2021.
| # | Image | Name [1] | Term of office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | End | |||
| 1 |  | Stephen Mather | May 16, 1917 | January 8, 1929 |
| 2 |  | Horace M. Albright | January 12, 1929 | August 9, 1933 |
| 3 |  | Arno B. Cammerer | August 10, 1933 | August 9, 1940 |
| 4 |  | Newton B. Drury | August 20, 1940 | March 31, 1951 |
| 5 |  | Arthur E. Demaray | April 1, 1951 | December 8, 1951 |
| 6 |  | Conrad L. Wirth | December 9, 1951 | January 7, 1964 |
| 7 |  | George B. Hartzog Jr. | January 9, 1964 | December 31, 1972 |
| 8 |  | Ronald H. Walker | January 7, 1973 | January 3, 1975 |
| 9 |  | Gary Everhardt | January 13, 1975 | May 27, 1977 |
| 10 |  | William J. Whalen III | July 5, 1977 | May 13, 1980 |
| 11 |  | Russell E. Dickenson | May 15, 1980 | March 3, 1985 |
| 12 |  | William Penn Mott Jr. | May 17, 1985 | April 16, 1989 |
| 13 |  | James M. Ridenour | April 17, 1989 | January 20, 1993 |
| 14 |  | Roger G. Kennedy | June 1, 1993 | March 29, 1997 |
| 15 |  | Robert Stanton | August 4, 1997 | January 2001 |
| 16 |  | Fran P. Mainella | July 18, 2001 | October 16, 2006 |
| 17 |  | Mary A. Bomar | October 17, 2006 | January 20, 2009 [2] |
– |  | Daniel Wenk (acting) | January 20, 2009 | October 2, 2009 |
| 18 |  | Jonathan Jarvis | October 2, 2009 [3] | January 3, 2017 |
– |  | Michael T. Reynolds (acting) | January 3, 2017 | January 24, 2018 [4] |
– |  | P. Daniel Smith (acting) | January 24, 2018 [4] | September 30, 2019 [5] |
– |  | David Vela (acting) | October 1, 2019 [5] | August 7, 2020 [6] |
– |  | Margaret Everson (acting) | August 7, 2020 | January 20, 2021 |
– | Shawn Benge (acting) | January 20, 2021 [7] | December 16, 2021 | |
| 19 |  | Charles F. Sams III | December 16, 2021 [8] | present |
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic value".
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all national parks; most national monuments; and other natural, historical, and recreational properties, with various title designations. The United States Congress created the agency on August 25, 1916, through the National Park Service Organic Act. Its headquarters is in Washington, D.C., within the main headquarters of the Department of the Interior.
The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and various memorials, sculptures, and statues. It is administered by the National Park Service (NPS) of the United States Department of the Interior as part of the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit of the National Park System. The park receives approximately 24 million visitors each year. Designed by Pierre L'Enfant, the "Grand Avenue" or Mall was to be a democratic and egalitarian space—unlike palace gardens, such as those at Versailles in France, that were paid for by the people but reserved for the use of a privileged few.
Denali National Park and Preserve, formerly known as Mount McKinley National Park, is a United States national park and preserve located in Interior Alaska, centered on Denali, the highest mountain in North America. The park and contiguous preserve encompass 6,045,153 acres which is larger than the state of New Hampshire. On December 2, 1980, 2,146,580-acre Denali Wilderness was established within the park. Denali's landscape is a mix of forest at the lowest elevations, including deciduous taiga, with tundra at middle elevations, and glaciers, snow, and bare rock at the highest elevations. The longest glacier is the Kahiltna Glacier. Wintertime activities include dog sledding, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling. The park received 594,660 recreational visitors in 2018.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park is located in the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland. The park was established in 1961 as a National Monument by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to preserve the neglected remains of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and many of its original structures.
A national recreation area (NRA) is a protected area in the United States established by an Act of Congress to preserve enhanced recreational opportunities in places with significant natural and scenic resources. There are 40 NRAs, which emphasize a variety of activities for visitors, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing, swimming, biking, horseback riding, and wildlife viewing, in areas that include multiple-use management for both conservation and limited utilization of natural resources. They have diverse features and contexts, being established around reservoirs, in urban areas, and within forests. Due to their size, diversity of activities, and proximity to population centers, NRAs are among the most visited units of the National Park System, with six among the thirty most visited sites.
Edwin Cole Bearss was a historian of the American Civil War, tour guide, and United States Marine Corps veteran of World War II.
The Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, located in Plains, Georgia, preserves sites associated with Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States. These include his residence, boyhood farm, school, and the town railroad depot, which served as his campaign headquarters during the 1976 election. The building which used to be Plains High School serves as the park's museum and visitor center. As Carter lives in Plains, the area surrounding the residence, including the burial site of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter (1927–2023) is under the protection of the United States Secret Service and is not open to the public.
The Statue of Liberty National Monument is a United States National Monument comprising Liberty Island and Ellis Island in the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York. It includes the 1886 Statue of Liberty by sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and the Statue of Liberty Museum, both situated on Liberty Island, as well as the former immigration station at Ellis Island which includes the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital.
The National Park Service (NPS) in the United States is a Bureau of the Department of the Interior with its headquarters located in Washington, D.C. The bureaus consist of numerous support offices and seven regional offices, which oversee park operations within their geographic area. The NPS has 3 main offices/verticals that support the Office of the Director: The Office of Congressional & External Relations, The Office of Management & Administration, and Operations.
Jonathan B. Jarvis served as the 18th Director of the United States National Park Service, confirmed by the United States Senate on September 25, 2009, and serving until his retirement on January 3, 2017.
The protected areas of the Sierra Nevada, a major mountain range located in the U.S. states of California and Nevada, are numerous and highly diverse. Like the mountain range itself, these areas span hundreds of miles along the length of the range, and over 14,000 feet of elevation from the lowest foothills to the summit of Mount Whitney.
Raymond David Vela is a parks administrator who is the former acting director of the United States National Park Service.
P. Daniel Smith is a longtime United States government administrator who is a former acting director of the U.S. National Park Service in the first Trump administration.
Margaret Everson is an American lawyer who served as the acting director of the United States National Park Service for six months and the acting director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for 15 months during the first Trump administration. She is the only person to have headed both the National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service.
The home of Jimmy Carter, who was the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, and his wife Rosalynn Carter (1927–2023) is located at 209 Woodland Drive in Plains, Georgia, United States. It is the only house that the Carters owned; they have occupied it since 1961.
Charles F. Sams III is an American conservationist who is the 19th and current director of the National Park Service since 2021. A member of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, Sams is the first Native American to serve as head of the NPS.
