Cam Sholly (left) on Wednesday was announced as the next superintendent of Yellowstone National Park/DOI handout

Cam Sholly, the son of a past chief ranger for Yellowstone National Park and currently director of the National Park Service's Midwest Region office, on Wednesday was announced as the next superintendent of Yellowstone.

The appointment, rumored since in April as part of a substantial shuffling of top Park Service managers, was not surprising following the news last week that Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk was told to either accept a transfer to the National Capital Region office or retire. 

In a brief news release from Washington, acting National Park Service Director P. Daniel Smith announced Mr. Sholly's appointment without mention of Superintendent Wenk. Also left unsaid was when Mr. Sholly, whose father, Dan, was chief ranger at Yellowstone from 1985-1998, would take over at the park.

"As a veteran of the National Park Service, Cam has a track record of working with local communities and tribes on important wildlife and conservation work and he's overseen some of the park service's most high-profile park infrastructure projects in recent years," said Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. "Managing our national parks is a responsibility and a privilege, and I'm confident Cam Sholly will do a fantastic job at Yellowstone."

Among other personnel changes said to be under way is the shift of Bert Frost from Alaska Regional director to Lake Mead National Recreation Area as superintendent and Sue Masica, Intermountain Regional director in Denver since 2013, to succeed Mr. Sholly at the Midwest Region Office in Omaha, Nebraska.

At the same time, Biscayne National Park Superintendent Margaret Goodro was said to be heading to replace Mr. Frost in Alaska, and Lake Mead Superintendent Lizette Richardson was reportedly moving to regional director for the Intermountain Region. Already, Bob Vogel, who led the National Capital Region, has been moved to the Southeast Region office in Atlanta.

“Cam is a proven leader, who has successfully worked at every senior level in the National Park Service including assignments as regional director, associate director, and superintendent,” said Deputy Director Smith. “Most recently, he has overseen the completion of one of the largest public/private partnership projects in NPS history – the $380 million renovation of the Gateway Arch grounds and museum in St. Louis. Cam has built productive and valuable relations with communities, landowners, and local, state, and tribal leaders throughout his career, and I am confident he will continue shaping the right vision for Yellowstone’s future.”

Interestingly, the news release cited the fact that during the past three years, national parks in the Midwest Region transferred nearly 800 bison to state and tribal governments through a transparent and collaborative process. At Yellowstone, Superintendent Wenk has been focused on bringing to life a durable quarantine program for the park's bison, which harbor a disease that causes livestock to abort, so they could be transferred to tribes and other entities that want to build their own herds. He had cited that effort last month when he announced plans to retire in March 2019.

Since early 2015, Sholly has served as the NPS Midwest Regional Director, and he manages a team of 2000 employees, a budget of over $250 million, and the operations of 61 national park units spread across 13 states. 

During his tenure in the Midwest Region, Mr. Sholly also has overseen several major planning processes, including the recent signing of the record of decision to reintroduce wolves to Isle Royale National Park. The region also supported efforts with states to develop wildlife and land management plans, including a plan to address Chronic Wasting Disease in elk populations in South Dakota. He has improved business processes in the region and collaborated with partners on a variety of complex and important park issues. In 2016, Sholly also established a regional Office of American Indian Affairs, to build stronger tribal relations across the region, the Washington news release said.

Superintendent Wenk has spent four decades working for the Park Service. His career has included stints as a deputy director of the Park Service as well as interim CEO of the National Park Foundation. He returned to Yellowstone, where his career started, in 2011 and succeeded in developing a winter use plan that allowed snowmobiles to continue touring the park.

In a radio interview earlier this month with Wyoming Public Media, Superintendent Wenk said it appears the Trump administration couldn't care less about the four decades he's given to the Park Service.

"I'm feeling like I devoted 43 years of my life, I think I have a record of achievement with the National Park Service that at the end of the day doesn't matter and that I'm no longer wanted at Yellowstone National Park," he said. "Even though I told them I was going to retire that seemed to not make a difference, so extremely disappointed is probably a mild way to explain it."

At the National Parks Conservation Association, President Theresa Pierno has said the news of Superintendent Wenk's ouster was grim.

“With no National Park Service director in place, Dan Wenk has been a strong leader with decades of knowledge and a passion for parks. Whether you agree with Dan or not on an issue, you know where he stands, and he stands for the parks," she said. "To lose Dan Wenk would be a great loss to the National Park System.”

Much has been made of President Trump's desire to shake things up in government with his unorthodox management style, and his position that the federal workforce must be reduced in number and payroll. Too, Secretary Zinke has rattled his vast workforce by claiming that roughly one-third of it is unloyal to him or President Trump.

But will Interior's handling of Superintendent Wenk, who has been well-respected across the Park Service, raise questions as to whether loyalty is a two-way street in the Interior Department? The superintendent himself raised that question in the radio interview.

"I'm not feeling like there's any loyalty to professionals within the National Park Service who have devoted their careers and we don't even warrant a discussion in terms of why we're doing this and what's going on," Superintendent Wenk.

One Park Service employee, in an anonymous letter posted on the Traveler, voiced outrage over the handling of Superintendent Wenk and said Secretary Zinke needs to work on building morale across the park system, not tearing it down.