July 31, 2007 — Mark Hardgrove, currently deputy superintendent at Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina, has been named to serve as superintendent at V.I. National Park on St. John.
"When I moved to the southeast region in 1983, I started applying for jobs at the park," he said Tuesday.
Hardgrove said he knows he faces many challenges, but the first one will be to get up to speed on issues facing the park. They include the proposed lease of park land for a public school, currently the hottest town-park issue. The new superintendent said he expects National Park Service management to brief him on that and other issues.
Hardgrove, 53, has worked for the National Park Service since 1972. He started out at the C&O Canal National Historic Park in Maryland before going on to work at parks in the National Capital Parks group. He moved around to several other parks, including an 11-year stint at San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico.
"I was acting superintendent at St. John after Marilyn," he said, referring to the 1995 hurricane.
Hardgrove and his wife, Millie Flores, have between them four children ranging in age from 17 to 23. The children will all remain on the mainland, but Hardgrove said Flores' father, who is 79, will live with the couple on St. John.
Though he recently gave up motocross racing after breaking his thumb, Hardgrove said he looks forward to exploring sports available on St. John.
Martha Bogle, who served as acting superintendent on St. John since April, will return Friday to her post as deputy superintendent at the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and Virginia.
Hardgrove will make a brief visit to St. John this week and return full time at the end of August. In the interim, Bogle said, division chiefs will rotate as acting superintendents.
The outgoing Bogle said she has enjoyed her time in the territory and spent a lot of time in the water. "I've just fallen in love with St. John," she said.
The park's last permanent superintendent, Art Frederick, left in September 2006 for a job as deputy regional director for the Park Service's southeast region. The park has been without a permanent superintendent since then.
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