Park's new science chief gets his feet wet

Phil Wilson hasn't been afraid to get his feet wet at his new post in Glacier National Park. Last week, he hiked up Nyack Creek to the falls and then waded down the stream counting bull trout spawning beds with Park fisheries biologist Chris Downs.

"It's amazing how much deadfall there is in that stream," Wilson said.

He said the number of redds, or fishing spawning beds, was up a little over last year.

Overseeing the Park's ecological health is Wilson's new job. In mid-September, he was named chief of science and management for Glacier Park, taking over for Jack Potter, who worked exclusively in the Park for 40 years before retiring earlier this year.

Wilson said he's been trying to get out into the field as much as possible since he arrived. It's difficult to talk about a region, after all, if you haven't been there. Glacier Park has proven impressive.

"I'm honored to be selected for the position and look forward to working with the Park staff, leadership team, partners and local communities in the preservation of this special place," he said.

Wilson's National Park Service career is many and varied, including serving as chief of resources and facility management at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in North Carolina. The site is a 264-acre farm where the writer and poet lived for 22 years.

Most recently, the 42-year-old was chief of science and resource management at the 800,000-acre Big Bend National Park and the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River, in Texas. Big Bend is a beautiful park, Wilson noted, but with family, it proved to be challenging - the nearest Wal-Mart was a 3.5-hour drive away.

Wilson also served in the Army as an enlisted soldier, where he was a member of an airborne battalion combat team in Northern Italy. He also taught cold weather survival and spent several months in northern Iraq during the first Gulf War assisting the Kurds.

Wilson started his Park Service career as a trail crew worker in Grand Canyon National Park. He then worked as a park ranger and archeologist at Mesa Verde and Grand Canyon national parks. He was appointed chief of resource management for the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, in New Mexico, and was acting superintendent for Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, in Arizona.

Wilson, who is married with three children - two daughters, 14 and 7, and a son, 11 - comes from a Park Service family. His father, Charles, was a ranger and was superintendent of Chaco Culture National Historical Park, in New Mexico.

Wilson said he enjoys hiking, cycling, fishing and skiing and looks forward to getting his children out this winter - they've grown up in warm locales, he noted.