Mike Reynolds is moving from Yosemite National Park to Denver to head the Park Service's Intermountain Region/NPS

Mike Reynolds, a former deputy director and acting director of the National Park Service before moving to Yosemite National Park to serve as superintendent, is heading to Denver to oversee the Intermountain Region.

Reynolds served as deputy director under Jon Jarvis during the Obama administration, and when Jarvis retired in January 2017 Reynolds was named acting director, a position he held until February 2018, when he was transferred to Yosemite.

“Mike is one of the most experienced and respected leaders in the National Park Service,” said David Vela, a deputy director wielding the authority of director, said Wednesday. “His dedication to our employees, the parks we protect, and the visitors we serve will be of enormous benefit to the 89 national park sites and regional office which he will lead in his new assignment.” 

As regional director, Reynolds will oversee a region the Trump administration is redrawing to meet its reorganization of the Interior Department. While the Intermountain Region of the Park Service has run from Montana to Texas, the Lower Colorado Basin, Upper Colorado Basin, and Arkansas-Rio Grande-Texas-Gulf region drawn by the Trump administraton includes park units Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, and portions of southern California and southern Nevada, but none in Montana.

With around 11.2 million acres of public land, the region hosts over 57 million visitors annually. The region employs approximately 5,700 people and hosts more than 25,500 volunteers during peak travel seasons. 

"I continue to be inspired by the employees, partners, and friends of Yosemite National Park who work to protect and share this iconic place with the world,” Reynolds said. “It was a great privilege to come back to help Yosemite get ready for its next exciting chapter and I thank everyone in and around the park who supported me in doing that. I am deeply honored to have been asked and I am excited to serve a very special region in the country with incredible parks and many challenges. I look forward to working with the dedicated regional and park employees across the Lower Colorado Basin, Upper Colorado Basin, and Arkansas-Rio Grande-Texas-Gulf regions who share a passion for serving these parks and a devotion to the national park idea and the Service itself.”  

Reynolds, a 34-year NPS veteran and a third-generation NPS employee, grew up in Yosemite and later returned to the park as a resource manager, planner, division chief, and most recently, park superintendent. He leads a park that covers more than 750,000 acres, and is home to granite peaks, domes and waterfalls that overlook broad meadows, wildflowers, and groves of ancient giant sequoias. The park receives millions of visitors each year who are served by 1,200 NPS employees during summer months in addition to 1,700 hospitality employees who work at park lodges, restaurants and provide recreational activities such as skiing and horseback riding.

Reynolds' other NPS assignments include serving as NPS Midwest Regional director, deputy Northeast Regional Director, superintendent of Fire Island National Seashore, and other roles at Mojave National Preserve, Cape Cod National Seashore, Curecanti National Recreation Area, and the NPS Denver Service Center. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MBA from Regis University in Denver. He was a Senior Executive Fellow at Harvard University in the spring of 2011. 

Reynolds is expected to begin his new assignment by the end of 2019. He will fill the seat held by Chip Jenkins, the superintendent of Mount Rainier National Park who has been serving as acting director of the Intermountain Region.

Cicely Muldoon, superintendent of Point Reyes National Seashore since 2010, will serve as acting superintendent at Yosemite after Reynolds’s departure and until a permanent superintendent is named. Muldoon is a 34-year veteran of the National Park Service. She has worked in national parks across the country, from Alaska to Arkansas and from Washington State to Washington D.C. Muldoon has a firsthand understanding of Yosemite National Park operations, having served two times as the park’s acting deputy superintendent.

Prior to coming to Point Reyes, Muldoon was a deputy regional director, overseeing partnerships, law enforcement, fire management, interpretation, and safety in national park units in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. She has also served as acting superintendent of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and superintendent of Pinnacles National Park in California and San Juan Island National Historical Park in the state of Washington. Muldoon is a graduate of the University of California, Davis.