DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR - September 25, 2002 -- National Park Service (NPS) Director Fran Mainella today announced that Mike Tollefson, a veteran of the NPS and member of the federal Senior Executive Service, will become the superintendent of Yosemite National Park (CA) in December 2002.

Tollefson will return to the Sierra from Great Smoky Mountains National Park in N.C. and Tenn., where he has been superintendent since 2000, implementing the internationally significant All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory, a 10-year program designed to inventory every living species in the park.

He will replace David Mihalic who has been superintendent of Yosemite since 1999 and who was brought to the park to manage the creation of the controversial Yosemite Valley Plan and the ensuing lawsuits."I believe in capitalizing on the strengths of our leadership," Mainella said. "Mike's ability to implement the Giant Forest restoration, a project that took years of planning, was nothing short of miraculous. He is the man for the job of implementing the funded portion of the Yosemite Valley Plan."

Tollefson's long career with the NPS includes the superintendency of Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. He served as a ranger in Katmai, Denali and Lake Clark National Parks and Preserves in Alaska, and Virgin Islands (VI) and North Cascades (WA) National Parks. He also has been in policy leadership positions in the NPS regional office in the Pacific Northwest. He moved to Sequoia in 1995 where he focused on implementing the Giant Forest project, as well as acquiring the pristine Dillonwood property at the headwaters of the Tule River for Sequoia National Park (CA).