Julena Campbell or Amy Bartlett Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk announced today that Pete Webster has been selected as the park’s new chief ranger. Webster has been the deputy chief ranger since July of 2014, and has intermittently shared the role of interim chief ranger for much of the past year. Webster succeeds Tim Reid who became the Superintendent at Devils Tower National Monument last fall. Webster is the park’s 17th chief ranger in the nearly 100 years it has been managed by the National Park Service. As chief ranger, Webster is responsible for overseeing more than 275 employees in the Resource and Visitor Protection Division who perform law enforcement, emergency medical services, search and rescue, wildland and structural fire, dispatch, fee collection, special use permitting, trails, corrals, and backcountry operations. “I am very pleased that Pete accepted this challenge,” said Wenk. “He brings a wealth of experience to this position, including proven leadership and a strong institutional knowledge of Yellowstone's resources and operations. His background as a field ranger, front-line supervisor, and chief ranger in a variety of parks across the country will serve him well in this complex position.” During the past seven years, Webster has managed law enforcement, emergency services, fire, visitor management, dispatch, and wilderness operations in his roles as the deputy chief ranger at Yellowstone, chief ranger at Denali National Park and Preserve, and deputy chief ranger at Shenandoah National Park. He began his National Park Service career in 1988 as a Student Conservation Association intern at Glacier National Park. During his career, he has also served as the district and sub-district ranger at Glacier and at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park and has worked as a field law enforcement park ranger at Yellowstone, Glacier, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Death Valley National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, and Mount Rainier National Park. A native of the Detroit, Michigan area, Webster received a Bachelor of Science degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Management from Michigan State University in 1989. He and his wife, Dawn, live in Mammoth, Wyoming, and have three children, ages 17, 15, and 10. - www.nps.gov/yell - Follow YellowstoneNPS on YouTube Facebook Twitter flickr Instagram |
Last updated: September 23, 2015