Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk, who was able to end years of litigation over a winter-use plan for the park, has been honored by the National Parks Conservation Association for his achievements during a nearly four-decade career with the National Park Service.

In presenting the superintendent with its Stephen T. Mather conservation award, the NPCA highlighted the winter-use plan.

“From reaching a solution to a longstanding conflict over winter use in Yellowstone to taking on other challenging wildlife and recreation issues, Superintendent Wenk has proven to be an exemplary leader that the National Parks Conservation Association is pleased to honor today,” said Bart Melton, NPCA's Yellowstone senior program manager. 

“I am honored to receive this award from NPCA,” said Superintendent Wenk. “To receive an award given in the name of our first Director is humbling.  I am also humbled because I know how many in the NPS worked incredibly hard to allow us to bring the winter use controversy to a close.  We would have never been able to do this without the efforts of my predecessors who set the stage with all the stakeholders invested in the issue.” 

With leadership posts in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, Superintendent Wenk made his mark on the National Park System long before he arrived back at Yellowstone in 2011. 

“Dan Wenk is the very definition of ‘public servant,’” said Craig Obey, NPCA’s senior vice president for government affairs. “In his many leadership positions within the National Park Service, he has been willing to make the tough decisions and do what is right, not just what is popular.  Whether you agree with Dan or not on an issue, you know where he stands, and he stands for the parks.”

Mr. Obey presented the Stephen T. Mather conservation award to Superintendent Wenk at the Association of National Park Rangers’ annual conference held last week in Estes Park, Colorado, the eastern gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. The award, named after the first National Park Service director, is given to individuals who have shown steadfast leadership and persistent dedication to the national parks.

Superintendent Wenk arrived at Yellowstone National Park in the midst of yet another planning effort to determine snowmobile and snowcoach use in the park. This long controversial issue was fought over in the halls of Congress, two courts, and in newspapers across the country since the early 1990s.

"Wenk enlisted a fresh approach and began a successful partnership with stakeholders and key decision makers to set a new course," a release from the NPCA said. "In October of 2013, a final decision was signed, putting Yellowstone National Park on the path towards better protections so visitors could enjoy clean air, the sounds of geysers and bubbling mudpots, and park wildlife." 

Superintendent Wenk has also been a strong advocate for protecting Yellowstone National Park’s resources, inside and outside of park boundaries, on wolf, bison, and fisheries management issues. His National Park Service career began in 1975. Prior to Yellowstone, he served as deputy director of operations for the Park Service in Washington from 2007 to 2011. Superintendent Wenk also served as the acting director of the National Park Service during the Bush Administration and the transition of the Obama Administration.