Bert Frost is being moved from his job as regional director of Alaska for the National Park Service to the role of Midwest Region director for the agency.

A year after a shakeup of the National Park Service leadership was thought to be sending Bert Frost, the agency's Alaska Region director, to Lake Mead National Recreation Area as superintendent, he's being relocated to Omaha, Nebraska, to take over the Midwest Region office. 

Top Park Service officials linked the move to the reorganization of the Interior Department and its bureaus, which includes the Park Service, though leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives are working to block that reorganization.

In announcing Frost's relocation, P. Daniel Smith, the de facto acting director of the Park Service, said the Midwest region "will transition to Unified Regions 3, 4, and 5 under the Department of the Interior’s plan to realign its regional boundaries. 

“Bert is a dedicated leader, who cares deeply about protecting America’s national parks,” Smith said Friday in making the announcement. “The Midwest Region is home to stories of American ingenuity and innovation, as well as remarkable natural features like the Great Lakes and the Badlands, and I am confident in Bert’s ability to lead this unique and diverse region.”

Back in May, the House of Representatives refused to spend money for the reorganization.

“On numerous occasions the (House Appropriations) Committee has sought background information to substantiate the costs of the reorganization but has not received even the most rudimentary data explaining how such costs eventually pay for themselves or translate into better service for the American public,” the House funding bill noted.

It was in April 2018 that a shakeup of top NPS managers was being implemented by then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

Dan Wenk, a former deputy director of the Park Service and Yellowstone's superintendent since 2010, was told to head to Washington, D.C., to oversee the National Capital Region; Frost was said to be ticketed to Lake Mead National Recreation Area as superintendent, and; Sue Masica, Intermountain Regional director in Denver since  2013, was to move to the same position at the Midwest Region Office in Omaha, Nebraska.

However, Wenk and Masica both opted to retire rather than take the directed assignments, while Frost was able to hold onto his job in Alaska.

At the same time, Cam Sholly, then director of the Midwest Region, was moved to Yellowstone to succeed Wenk. While Lake Mead Superintendent Lizette Richardson was to become the regional director for the Intermountain Region, she, too, retired.

That shakeup left vacanices at the top of the Intermountain, National Capitol, and Midwest regional offices. While Frost's move to Omaha fills one of those three vacancies, it also creates a vacancy at the top of the Alaska Region office.

There also is a vacancy at very top of the National Park Service, where first Deputy Director Mike Reynolds (now Yosemite National Park's superintendent), and now Smith were given the authority to act as director.

While David Vela, superintendent of Grand Teton National Park, last year was nominated to be Park Service director, the Senate never confirmed him before the 115th Congress adjourned. In April he was sent to Washington to serve as acting deputy director of operations, and it's expected that his nomination for director will again be sent to the Senate in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Frost said he was looking forward to the challenges his new role will bring. 

Over the past five years, Frost guided the Alaska Region through complex and changing conditions, according to the Park Service release announcing his appointment. He led the Park Service in assessing the “State of the Parks” for all Alaska parklands, and hosted the region’s first Science Symposium held in conjunction with the NPS Centennia. Frost also maintained an emphasis on the importance of science to inform decision making and management of national park areas throughout the state.

Prior to his role in Alaska, Frost was the NPS associate director for the Natural Resource Stewardship and Science program, serving as the chief scientist for the NPS with programmatic responsibility for all aspects of the natural resource and science programs for the agency.

Frost began his career with the Park Service in 1994 as the wildlife biologist and natural resource program manager at Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site. He has a B.S. in Wildlife and Range Management and an M.S. in Zoology, both from Brigham Young University, and a Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Maine.

Frost will begin his new assignment in early fall. Denali National Park and Preserve Superintendent Don Striker will serve as acting director for the Alaska Region until a permanent regional director is named.