Who appoints the Director of the National Park Service?
The Director of the National Park Service is a Presidential appointee, subject to confirmation with the advice and consent of the Senate. Directors normally serve on schedules congruent with the President who appoints them. For many years the Director was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, not subject to Senate confirmation. Several Directors have come from within the professional ranks of the National Park Service: Conrad Wirth (1951-64), George B. Hartzog, Jr. (1964-72), Gary Everhardt (1975-77, who went back to become Superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway for many years before retiring), William Whalen (1977-80), Russell Dickenson (1980-85, who also went back to being Regional Director in Seattle before retiring), and Robert Stanton (1997-2001). William Penn Mott, Jr. (1985-89) came to the Park Service from the California State park system, having served as a professional landscape architect for the National Park Service early in his career. Everhardt and Stanton are sti
