Michael T. Reynolds
Acting Director of the National Park Service
In office January 3, 2017 – January 24, 2018
President	Donald Trump
Preceded by	Jonathan Jarvis
Succeeded by	P. Daniel Smith (Acting)
Personal details
Alma mater	University of California, Santa Barbara ( B.A.) Regis University ( M.A.)
Occupation	National park administrator

Michael T. Reynolds is a career parks administrator who served as an acting director of the United States National Park Service in the Trump administration.

Early life and education

Reynolds is a third-generation National Park Service employee. ^[1] He spent much of his childhood at Yosemite National Park, with his mother's family working concessions there. His father was a planner at the park. His grandfather was a park ranger at Yellowstone National Park. ^{[1] [2]}

Reynolds received a bachelor of arts degree in environmental studies at University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1985. He got a master’s in business administration at Regis University in Denver, Colorado. ^{[1] [3]}

He was a senior executive fellow at Harvard University in the spring of 2011. ^[3]

Career

After college, Reynolds worked as a ranger, firefighter and biologist. ^[2]

He served for six years as a natural resource planner for the Parks Service in Denver. ^[2]

He held jobs at the Curecanti National Recreation Area in Colorado, Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts in 1994, and the Mojave National Preserve in California. ^{[3] [2]}

He was a resource manager, planner and division chief at Yosemite National Park. ^[1]

He became superintendent of Fire Island National Seashore in New York in 2004, deputy Northeast regional director of the National Park Service, and Midwest regional director of the National Park Service. ^{[3] [2]}

He moved to the National Park Service’s Washington headquarters in 2014, first as a director of workforce and inclusion and then as director of operations. ^[1]

In 2016, he testified before a House committee to acknowledge sexual harassment at many park sites and pledged to protect workers better. ^[4]

National Park Service acting director

Reynolds became acting director of the Park Service in January 2017 when Jonathan Jarvis retired. ^[5]

Reynolds had an awkward start with President Donald Trump when the Park Service tweeted aerial photos of Trump's inauguration ceremony showing a crowd much smaller than the record-breaking crowd that Trump claimed. Trump reportedly phoned Reynolds and asked him to find new pictures. ^{[1] [6]}

Reynolds helped announce new national historical landmarks including the New York State Canal System and the Eldean Covered Bridge. ^{[7] [8]}

In June 2017, Reynolds reversed an Obama administration policy that had discouraged sales of bottled water at the parks. ^[9]

Later parks jobs

On January 24, 2018, Reynolds was moved out of the top parks job to lead Yosemite National Park in California. He led a staff of 800 there. ^[1]

On October 23, 2019, Reynolds was appointed as the National Park Service's regional director of the Department of the Interior Lower Colorado Basin, Upper Colorado Basin, and Arkansas- Rio Grande- Texas- Gulf regions. In this role he oversees 89 parks in nine states. ^[3]

See also

• Organization of the National Park Service

References