Smith takes Texas parks post

Glacier National Park’s second in command has taken a new post in Texas, the Park Service announced last week. Deputy superintendent Eric Smith was named superintendent of Lake Meredith National Recreation Area and Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument north of Amarillo, Texas.

Smith has served as deputy superintendent of Glacier since 2015. He will begin his new assignment on Nov. 11.

Smith’s new job marks a return to Texas where he worked in federal law enforcement for the Department of Justice earlier in his 24-year public service career. He joined the Park Service in 2000 as a maintenance supervisor at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. While there, he transitioned into facilities management, served on the park’s dive team, and piloted missions aboard the park’s airplane. He also has served temporary details as acting superintendent at a number of parks and managed facilities at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park in Tennessee. He left the Park Service in 2007 to work for the U.S. Public Building Service and returned to the Park Service in 2011 as Deputy Superintendent at Denali National Park & Preserve in Alaska.

“While leaving Glacier and its great team will be hard, I feel very privileged to join our NPS colleagues and partners at Lake Meredith and Alibates Flint Quarries,” Smith said. “I look forward to continuing close relationships with the local communities, affiliated tribes, and the State of Texas, in managing our two parks for recreational opportunities and cultural experiences.”