Smokies Superintendent to Leave Post

by Thomas Fraser
Maryville (TN) Daily Times - September 25, 2002

After two years at the helm of America's most-visited national park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Mike Tollefson will leave by the end of this year for Yosemite National Park.

He will replace Yosemite Superintendent Dave Mihalic, who will likely be coming to the Great Smokies to replace Tollefson.

''In both cases, the guys are going home,'' said National Park Service Chief of Public Affairs David Barna.

Mihalic served as an assistant superintendent at the Great Smokies in the 1980s, Barna said, and Tollefson served as superintendent of Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park before coming to the Smokies in October 2000.

Both men are at the top of the park service hierarchy, and have upper level Senior Executive Service status. At that level, they must agree to reassignment at the discretion of the park service director.

''It's kind of like the military,'' Barna said, in that the park service likes to keep leadership ''fresh'' at its major units. Superintendents ''can burn out pretty quickly,'' Barna said, and described California's Yosemite as ''a pressure cooker,'' similar to the Great Smokies, which sees some 10 million annual visitors. Mihalic was based at Glacier National Park prior to the Yosemite placement.

''The director of the park service can best utilize their talents in these other two parks,'' Barna said as the reason for the move, which had not been announced officially as of Tuesday evening.

Tollefson was attending a conference of Southeastern superintendents with park service director Fran Mainella and unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Community Advocate

Tollefson -- who replaced Karen Wade when she resigned to become head of the national park service's Inter-mountain region office in 1999 -- placed emphasis on working with communities adjacent to the park. This outreach will be missed, said those who worked with him.

''I can tell you I'm distressed about him leaving because we're in the middle of a some very critical programs,'' said Smoky Mountain Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Vice President Herb Handly.

''We thought the partnership between Blount County and the national park was reaching an all-time high,'' Handly said. ''I'm concerned about what might happen to the partnership, but if it's the right opportunity for Mike, we wish him well.''

Handly listed the Cades Cove Transportation Plan, development of the Elkmont Historic District and the Experience Your Smokies program as projects that grew with the support of Tollefson.

''He's been a major contributor to reaching out to the community, and we'd be sorry to see him go.''

Friend of the 'Friends'

Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park Director Jim Hart said in the brief time he has been on the job, he has been impressed with the initiatives pursued by Tollefson. Hart took the Friend's position in June to replace Charles Maynard.

''It's been a short time, but in that time I've come to like and certainly respect the professionalism and warmth Mike brought to the job,'' Hart said.

''I'm going to miss him. I feel like he's been a real voice for involvement in the community and the organizations that are trying to bring the park where it needs to be in terms of environmental issues and other issues related to areas around the Park,'' he said.