DATE: October 07, 2008

CONTACT: Brett Wright, 864-656-3036
wright@clemson.edu

WRITER: Ross Norton, 864-656-4810
rnorton@clemson.edu

National Park Service director delivers Hartzog Lecture

CLEMSON — The director of the National Park Service will deliver Clemson University’s 29th annual George B. Hartzog Jr. Lecture at 2 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts.

Mary A. Bomar is the 17th director of the National Park Service. Nominated by George W. Bush for the post in 2006, she succeeded Fran Mainella, now a visiting scholar in Clemson’s department of parks, recreation and tourism management (PRTM).

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Director Bomar leads a team of 20,000 employees and 140,000 volunteers in administering 391 national park units and related cultural and natural heritage programs, ranging from Yellowstone National Park to the Liberty Bell.

The first naturalized citizen to serve the park service as director, Bomar was born and raised in England. She traveled to, and for a short time lived in, the United States with her family as a young girl and has many childhood memories of America’s national parks.

“One of my earliest memories is sailing into the New York Harbor and watching the Statue of Liberty seem to rise from the water, little knowing I would one day have a role in her stewardship,” Bomar said.

The title of her lecture is “People, Parks and Policy — America’s Best Idea Turns 100.” The National Park Service will celebrate its centennial in 2016.

Bomar has set three overarching goals for the National Park Service: re-engage the American people with their national parks, increase the capacity of the system and prepare the next generation of leaders for our parks.

That final goal is in concert with the George B. Hartzog Jr. Environmental Lecture and Awards Program hosted by PRTM and the department of forestry at Clemson.

“Having Director Bomar keynote our annual program is quite an honor for us,” said Brett Wright, PRTM chairman. “Her goals are in keeping with our goals, too, especially in the development of future park professionals.”

Clemson’s PRTM program is widely considered one of the nation’s strongest. In addition to undergraduate and graduate studies, the department also has a long history of leadership training for federal park and natural resource agencies.

Four former National Park Service directors are expected to attend the lecture to celebrate the life of the program’s namesake, George B. Hartzog Jr., one of the most influential park service directors ever, who died earlier this year. The South Carolina native was born in Walterboro.

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