Great Smoky Mountains National Park outgoing superintendent, Cassius Cash / NPS
Cassius Cash, the superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is stepping down. Cash is moving on to become the president and CEO of the Yosemite Conservancy in San Francisco, California. Cash spent a decade at the helm of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and was the park's first Black superintendent.
Cash, who was born in Tennessee, began his career as a wildlife biologist for the US Forest Service in 1991. He was with the USFS for nearly twenty years before taking a position with the National Park Service in 2010. Just four years later he was appointed to the top position at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
During his tenure, park visitation increased by 42%; the park, always very popular, is far and away the most-visited in the national park system. Cash oversaw a massive fundraising effort through the implementation of parking fees that helped address maintenance issues at the park. Cash helped plan for the park's recovery from a devastating wildfire in 2016, the Chimney Tops fire, that ultimately killed more than a dozen people in and around the nearby town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Cash also founded the Smokies Hikes for Healing program. Started in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, the program is built around using hiking and outdoor recreation to faciliate discussions about ongoing racism, discrimination, and injustice. In 2022, the National Parks Conservation Association awarded Cash the Stephen Tyng Mather Award for his work in founding the hiking program. The award is in recognition of federal employees who risk their careers for the principles and practices of good stewardship of the national parks.
Cash replaces outgoing Yosemite Conservancy's out CEO of nine years, Frank Dean.
"Being able to assist with the preservation of a national wonder like Yosemite National Park fills my cup of purpose in life and as a preservation professional," Cash said.
“Cassius is a remarkable individual — passionate, hard-working, and very approachable. He has a deep understanding of what’s happening on the frontlines of our national parks,” said Yosemite Conservancy Board Chair Steve Ciesinski. “From the moment we met Cassius we were impressed. And the more we talked, the more confident we felt in his ability to lead Yosemite Conservancy in a second century of service to — and partnership with — in Yosemite National Park.”
Cash will remain at Great Smoky Mountains National Park until December, then start his new role at the Yosemite Conservancy in January, 2025.
The Yosemite Conservancy is a century-old nonprofit that supports Yosemite National Park, though is not affiliated with the park service.
Comments
Smokies Hikes fior Healing appears to be an independent entity from GSMNP or the NPS.
Is it really appropropriate, let alone ethical, for any NPS employee to use his/her position to promote and participate in uniform in what amounts to an activity operated by a private entity?
Imagine a NPS superintendent promoting and participating in uniform in some park-related activity for a private entity say, Campers for Christ, or Park Lovers of the Second Amendment. I doubt the NPS would tolerate such involvement.
If this supt.--any supt.--wants to promte this type of activity on his own time, out of uniforn, have at it.
This is unseemly. Sorry, not in my name.
As the husband for 56 years of an wonderful lady of American Indian heritage we jointly would like to convey to you that the renaming of Clingman's Dome is nothing more than the despoiling of American History and a massive waste of taxpayers' money for printing and new signage. As a former bureaucrat myself I have watched a lot of doltish mindless waste, especially when it comes to dumping millions of surplus dollars at years end. This is right up there with that type of third party purchasing that caused asphalt parking lots to be painted green to match the surrounding grass. This is a time of government imposed economic ruin particularly for the lower and middleclass citizens that you were sworn to faithfully serve. Your action has accomplished nothing but waste and means little to a reservation bound Native American who is in need of heath care, sustainable housing and education. Congratulations for this blatant waste in the name of ill-gotten and wasted gains to needlessly change American History. But as a lockstep bureaucrat you did accomplish the narcissistic goal of five minutes of fame... at least within the bureaucracy. In the real world you are not held in any esteem for this childish profligate action against the impoverished and the history of this country.
Thank you Mac! I was looking for an example of a trivial, out-of-touch, idiosyncratic grievance; especially, with an implication of aged crotchetiness and privilege.
The Cherokee had named the mountain long before it became part of the NPS. Clingman was a local promoter at the time and a Confederate general. No need to contimue to glorify a traitor to the U.S. AND the county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously for the name change. All in all a great idea.