June 15, 2003 – There's a new face behind the superintendent's desk at the V.I. National Park, but only temporarily. Mark Woods, who previously worked with the park on St. John, is on loan from his job as superintendent at Cumberland Gap National Historic Park. He arrived in mid-May and will be on the job until July 19.
Woods said he expects the National Park Service to appoint a new permanent superintendent to succeed John King soon. King who left to become superintendent at Big Bend National Park in Texas in mid-May.
The NPS has not chosen King's replacement, Woods said, "but the recruitment period has closed."
Woods was deputy superintendent of the V.I. National Park from December 1995 to January 1997. At that time, park management based on St. John had responsibility for all national park facilities on St. John, St. Thomas and St. Croix.
Work is continuing on projects started under King's administration, Woods said. These include improvements at Hawksnest Bay, implementation of rules and regulations for the Coral Reef National Monument and starting work on the park's general management plan.
Having worked at the park on St. John before, Woods said, he had a smooth transition into his interim job. "It's much easier coming back when you're familiar with the issues," he said. He said his biggest challenges are in keeping King's initiatives moving forward "and maintaining a good open dialogue with the community and staff."
Woods, 43, said his NPS service career spans 23 years. He started in 1980 as a seasonal park technician at the Ninety Six National Historic Site in Ninety Six, South Carolina, a battlefield in the Revolutionary War. He worked at several other parks before taking over as superintendent at Cumberland Gap. His family — wife Ginny and children Maggie, Mark and Grayson — have joined him on St. John.
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