(BASED ON PRESS RELEASE)— WASHINGTON, D.C.— Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar last week praised the Senate’s confirmation of Jonathan Jarvis to be director of the National Park Service.

“This is a great day for the National Park Service and for the American public,” Secretary Salazar said. “Jon Jarvis is a career professional who has consistently stood up for protection of national parks. He brings great wisdom and three decades of experience to the job.”

Jarvis will be remembered locally as the NPS official who was the Park Service’s point man for negotiations with ASG over the move to establish a second McDonald’s location at Utulei Beach Park.

Jarvis, a 30-year veteran of the National Park Service, has served since 2002 as regional director of the agency’s Pacific West Region, where he was responsible for 54 national parks in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands of Guam, Saipan and American Samoa, as well as a host of NPS community revitalization programs that serve those states.

“America's National Park System is a gift from past generations to this and succeeding generations. I look forward to working with Secretary Salazar, the Congress, our partners, and the extraordinary employees of the National Park Service as we prepare for the next century of stewardship and excellent visitor experiences,” Jarvis said today.

Jarvis has served as superintendent of Mount Rainier National Park in Ashford, Washington, Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho, and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve in Alaska. A trained biologist, he was also Chief of Natural and Cultural Resources at North Cascades National Park. Jarvis is currently the co-leader of the Children in Nature taskforce with the National Association of State Park Directors.

A native of Virginia, Jarvis has a B.S. in biology from the College of William and Mary and completed the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Program in 2001.

(Source: DOI Media release)