Karen Gustin, superintendent of Olympic National Park since 2008, will retire early next month.
Gustin announced Thursday that her last day will be March 2. Todd Suess, the park’s deputy superintendent, will serve as interim acting superintendent.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed working at Olympic National Park,” Gustin said in a prepared statement. “The staff is a great group of people to work with, as are the communities of the Olympic Peninsula. The community support and our park neighbors have been wonderful here.”
During Gustin’s tenure, the park has tackled a number of significant issues and projects. None has been bigger than the beginning of the nation’s largest dam removal on the Elwha River last September. Completion of dam removal, just part of the $325 million restoration project, is slated for 2014. The removal will open 70 miles of river habitat to salmon and steelhead.
Work also has started on the park’s wilderness stewardship plan, with public scoping to begin this summer. Development of the plan is included in the park’s general management plan that was completed in 2008.
Gustin has also worked to strengthen the park’s relationships with eight Olympic Peninsula treaty Indian tribes through a memorandum of understanding signed in 2008.
The 54-year-old Gustin also has led the park through numerous projects to repair $8 million in damage done by a series of storms and landslides.
The work is not done. Scheduled to begin later this year is the long-awaited installation of a new bridge over Staircase Rapids, a $1.1 million project that will restore the popular Staircase Rapids loop trail in the park’s southeast corner.
Before coming to Olympic, Gustin was superintendent of Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida from 2004-2008. Olympic is the 10th park Gustin had worked at. Previous posts included Michigan’s Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Guam’s War in the Pacific National Historical Park, American Memorial Park on Saipan and Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa.
Gustin and her family plan to relocate to Lexington, Ky. An avid horsewoman, Gustin said she will immerse herself in the equine industry.
Tackling trouble
Karen Gustin has been no stranger to access issues in her time at Olympic National Park. Among the projects completed are:
2008: $4 million in storm damage repairs to trails, roads and wilderness bridges.
2010: $2 million in emergency repairs were quickly completed after a landslide destroyed a section of the Hurricane Ridge Road.
2011: More than $2 million in road repairs and improvements around the park.
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