A new superintendent for North Cascades National Park Service Complex was announced Wednesday.
Karen Taylor-Goodrich will start her new duties in March.
She has been superintendent at Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks in California the last three years. She fills the vacancy created last year when Chip Jenkins left the park to become the Park Service’s Pacific West deputy regional director in Seattle.
Taylor-Goodrich’s career of more than 30 years with the Park Service includes a stint at Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.
“Returning to work and live in the Pacific Northwest has been a long-time goal, and I look forward to working closely with the park staff, local communities, park partners, and our interagency and Canadian colleagues to protect and conserve this very special region,” Taylor-Goodrich said.
The park complex covers more than 680,000 acres in the North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area. It runs from Lake Chelan north to the Canadian border.
Taylor-Goodrich has worked as the associate director for visitor and resource protection at Park Service headquarters in Washington, D.C.
She also has worked at Yosemite National Park (California), Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona), Cumberland Island National Seashore (Georgia) and National Capital Parks-East (Washington, D.C. and Maryland).
Her international work experience includes protecting areas in Tanzania, sister park agreements in Cambodia and China, and a wilderness management agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States.
“Karen is a proven leader who has successfully managed complex and controversial issues for the National Park Service at the local, national and international levels,” Pacific West Regional Director Chris Lehnertz said.
“Karen’s collaborative management style and strong background in visitor and resource protection and management, especially in wilderness and wildland fire, will be a great asset to the North Cascades,” Lehnertz added.
Taylor-Goodrich received a bachelor of science degree in geography from Portland State University, with graduate work in natural resources management.
Her hiring completes a turnover of superintendents at the three national parks in Washington. Randy King was named head of Mount Rainier National Park in October 2011, and Sarah Creachbaum became superintendent at Olympic National Park in November 2012.
Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640 jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com
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