Jeff Mow is the new superintendent of Glacier National Park, the National Park Service announced Wednesday.
Mow, a 25-year veteran of the NPS, is currently serving as superintendent of Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska. He will begin his assignment at Glacier on Aug. 25, according to NPS officials.
“Jeff’s wide experience in many roles across the National Park Service make him an excellent fit for Glacier, one of our most beloved national parks and a focus of great pride and interest among Montanans,” said John Wessels, NPS Intermountain Region director.
“He has proven himself a very effective communicator and manager, able to build consensus both inside parks and with our partner organizations and park gateway communities. I know he will work well with Glacier’s local, national and international partners, stakeholders and constituents at this very special place in the northern Rockies’ ‘Crown of the Continent.’”
The search for a new chief in Glacier Park launched after Chas Cartwright retired in late December after four years. Kym Hall has served as acting chief during the search process.
As superintendent of Glacier, Mow will oversee the management of more than 1 million acres of parkland, a staff of roughly 155 and an annual operating budget of more than $12.5 million.
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Jeff Mow. Courtesy photo |
Mow has led NPS management at Kenai Fjords since November 2004.
“My first visit to (Glacier Park) was in 1988 as a wild land firefighter on the Red Bench Fire near Polebridge,” he said in a statement.
“Twenty-five years later, it is such an honor and privilege to return as superintendent and a newest member of Glacier’s outstanding management team. I can’t wait to join with the park staff and partners as we meet numerous challenges and opportunities facing the park in the next few years.”
Mow, 54, is a native of Los Angeles. He is a 1981 graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., where he majored in environmental education. He attended graduate school at the University of Michigan, focusing on geology. During college and graduate school, he spent four summers in southwestern Montana as a geologic field assistant with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Since becoming superintendent at Kenai Fjords, Mow’s additional duties included the role of Department of Interior incident commander in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, policy analysis with the NPS Climate Change Response Program and acting superintendent of Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska last year.