The Trump administration has gone three years without a Senate-confirmed director of the National Park Service and filled many jobs with "acting" positions, a practice that Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility claims has created a "leadership vacuum" in the agency.

While former Grand Teton National Park Superintendent David Vela had been nominated in 2018 by President Trump to be the Park Service director, the full Senate never voted on the nomination. Since then Interior has designated deputy directors to essentially serve as de facto Park Service director.

On top of that void, PEER says two-thirds of the top NPS slots lack a permanent official -- "an unprecedented leadership vacuum."

Many senior NPS vacancies are for positions that do not require Senate confirmation, according to PEER:

• Ten of 15 deputy, assistant, and associate NPS director slots are entirely vacant or temporarily filled by an “acting” appointee; 
• Several superintendent positions at major parks, such as Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Grand Teton, also are filled by “actings” on an interim basis; and  
• P. Daniel Smith, who was brought out of retirement in 2018 and given an NPS deputy slot in which he “exercised the authority of the director,” then was moved out of that slot last fall to serve as a teleworking special assistant.

“The Park Service is suffering from a multi-billion-dollar maintenance deficit and it can ill afford high-salary ghost employees,” said PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse. “Keeping so many leadership slots unfilled by permanent jobholders hobbles management and means that major decisions affecting our national parks are increasingly made by political appointees in the Interior Secretary’s office.” 

See NPS’s 2/3rds leadership vacancies

Vacant, director
David Vela, deputy director, exercising the authority of the director 
Lena McDowall, deputy director, management and administration
Shawn Benge, acting deputy director, Operations
Vacant, deputy director, congressional and external relations
Chris Powell, chief of staff
Shane Compton, associate director, chief information office
Vacant, assistant director, communications
Joy Beasley, acting associate director, cultural resources, partnerships and science
Tom Medema, acting associate director, interpretation, education, and volunteers
Charles Laudner, assistant director, legislative and congressional affairs
Ray Sauvajot, associate director, natural resource stewardship and science
Mike Caldwell, acting associate director, park planning, facilities, and lands
Reggie Chapple, acting assistant director, partnerships and civic engagement
Marlon Taubenheim, acting associate director, workforce and inclusion
Vacant, associate director, business services
Louis Rowe, acting associate director, visitor and resource protection