Jeff West, Deputy Superintendent at National Park Service

About

Overview of Job: I serve as the Deputy Superintendent for three (3) separate NPS areas: New River Gorge National River (NERI), Gauley River National Recreation Area (GARI), and Bluestone National Scenic River (BLUE). This position is located in the Office of the Park Manager (Superintendent, GS-15).  If something goes wrong, it is my responsibility! I have broad and full responsibilities for management of the park's operations; serve as a confidant to the Superintendent, share the responsibility for overall planning, land protection, and public relations with the Superintendent; and in the absence of the Superintendent, serve as Acting Superintendent with full delegated authority. The New River Gorge National River is divided into two districts and has a full range of management responsibilities including: a robust special use permit and commercial use license program; lands; planning/compliance; administration; facilities operations and maintenance; asset management; natural and cultural resource management; interpretation and education; visitor and resource protection; and partnerships and community relations with federal, state, county, Boy Scouts of American and other non-profit organizations. Gauley River National Recreational Area and Bluestone National Scenic River each have their own distinctive legislation.  The Gauley River National Recreation Area is a heavily used, fall white water rafting destination.

 

The combined park group has a total of 61,058 NPS fee acres (88,054 acres within the Congressional Boundary); including 78 miles of world class white water on the New and Gauley Rivers and 11.2 miles of a National Scenic River.  The three parks are long and linear and are spread out over a wide geographical area.  Due to the three different designations for the three units, the rivers are extremely complex to manage and administer. All three units have concurrent jurisdiction.  Hundreds of privately owned tracts/inholdings are scattered throughout the parks and as many as two dozen small communities lie within or adjacent to NPS boundaries.  The parks have over 100 entrances ­ many on state roads, and share boundaries with two Army Corps of Engineer Lakes and four state parks. The parks are viewed as the cornerstone for tourism and recreation visits to Southern West Virginia. The natural, cultural, and recreational resources are of vital interest to local and regional businesses, state and local officials, and conservation and outdoor recreation organizations.  The parks are located in four counties - all within the same Congressional District.

All of these parks host intense recreational uses. Annual visitation is 1.2 million visitors. NERI is a nationally known whitewater destination and is usually named as being among the top five climbing destinations in the country.  NERI currently has over 2,000 named climbing routes within its boundaries.  GARI is internationally known for its whitewater, and is growing as a climbing destination.  NERI also hosts the annual "Bridge Day" event where generally over 400 people BASE jump off and many others rappel or descend from the State's bridge that spans the New River Gorge; over 100,000 people attend the event.

I perform in a wide variety of functional areas requiring professional park management skills and knowledge.  Natural resource problems are extremely diverse and considered to be nationally significant; they include invasive species, water quality degradation and watershed protection, invasive pest management, view shed protection, trail development and management, boundary management and land acquisition, adjacent land use management, habitat management, and poaching of plant and animals.  I provide support, guidance, and direction, assist with program development, and oversight of the natural and cultural resource programs. Cultural resource examples include: review and editing of the Museum Collections report; prioritizing historical building PMIS requests; directing a program to evaluate historical structures for sustainability and relative park importance and deciding which buildings we will remove and which we will maintain; review of all compliance documents for the superintendent’s signature; and review of the archaeological site monitoring program. Natural Resource examples include directing research topics, reviewing and implementation of tree cutting operations plan, review and implementation plans for 9B rules, review of compliance documents, direction of 19jj activities, review and recommendations for rehabilitation of certain areas, abandoned mine restoration priorities, and program evaluation.

I interpret and implement policies to make changes and improvements in order to resolve significant management issues. Examples include visitor use and access issues where I worked closely with numerous outfitter companies who provide river rafting and rock climbing to over a million visitors, and working with the Boy Scouts of American who hold their National Jamboree and High Adventure Camps adjacent to park property and on Park Rivers and rock climbing walls. 

Oversight of maintenance operations includes maintenance of significant numbers of different resources dispersed throughout the Park including 91 miles of trails, 29 miles of paved and gravel roads, two visitor centers and two visitor contact stations, 223 buildings including historic structures, 22 maintained  river launch points, three sewage treatment plants, 11 campgrounds, eight picnic shelters, and communication facilities for telephone, computers, and radio. I have worked in depth on the development of PMIS projects to balance normal operations with recurring and preventative maintenance needs, participated in the re-evaluation of the Asset Priority Index, and equipment replacement. One of our big pushes has been “normalizing” operations – figuring out what we really need to do, and then doing it. We have developed monthly and annual work plans to emphasize what the needs are, and differentiate them from projects and emergencies – the difference between being reactionary and proactive.

I seek collaboration among numerous internal and external groups. Due to the national awareness and significance of natural resource problems, development pressures, and the recreational use of the park for regional economics, solutions are complicated by the requirement to coordinate input and efforts by both supportive and non-supportive groups and individuals, including but not limited to: West Virginia Professional Outfitters Association, West Virginia White Water Commission, West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, Climbing Organizations, West Virginia Tourism, strong interests from federal politicians, county commissions, private enterprise, national special interest groups, and other interested individuals. I serve on several Boards including the WV Governor’s advisory board on tourism, the Prince Railroad Commission, the Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce, the Land Management Council, the Visit Southern WV Tourism Commission, and I supervise people who attend numerous other committee meetings and hearings who feed valuable data back to park management.

Information

Industry experience

Education: Masters

Seniority: Manager, Director, Professor

Years of experience: 20 years or above

Work experience

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