Cartwright named new Glacier super

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

Chas Cartwright, the Superintendent of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, has been named the new superintendent of Glacier National Park.

Cartwright will assume his new position in late May. He will replace Mick Holm, who served as superintendent for five and a half years before retiring in January.

"To say that my wife Lynda and I are excited about moving to Glacier country is an understatement," Cartwright said in a prepared release. "I am honored to be selected as superintendent and look forward to getting acquainted with all of the various individuals and groups who care about the park. My focus will be on building relationships. Glacier National Park has an incredibly dedicated staff of permanent and seasonal employees, volunteers and partners, whom I look forward to working with."

A native of Detroit, Cartwright graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology in 1972. He is an avid athlete who regularly bikes, skis, swims, hikes and kayaks. He is married to Lynda Stocks, a native of Moab, Utah, who has a son and daughter, and they in turn have five grandchildren.

Prior to Shenandoah, Cartwright also was superintendent of the Dinosaur National Monument and Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming, Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site in North Dakota, and Hovenweep National Monument in Utah and Colorado. He has also held acting superintendent positions at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico and Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah.

Cartwright began his career with the Park Service in 1987 at Canyonlands and Arches National Parks and Natural Bridges National Monument as their first archeologist. Prior to joining the Park Service, he worked for the Bureau of Land Management as an archeologist, and for the United States Forest Service as a fire lookout, river ranger and firefighter.

Shenandoah has more than 500 miles of trails, including 101 miles of the Appalachian Trail and its own and sometimes very snowy road — the 105- mile Skyline Drive.

The Park also has some 70,000-plus acres of dedicated wilderness and is just under 200,000 acres in size as it showcases the Blue Ridge Mountains in the southern Appalachians.

While Glacier's visitation has increased or at least remained steady, Shenandoah has seen visitation in recent years drop, which presented a unique challenge to the Park.