WASHINGTON, DC – The National Park Service has a new boss.
Charles F. Sams III, who goes by Chuck, was ceremonially sworn in Thursday as next National Park Service Director.
As Director, Chuck Sams will oversee the management of the National Park Service System, which includes 423 parks covering more than 85 million acres.
Sams is a Native American, Cayuse and Walla Walla Tribes, and is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Northeast Oregon, where he grew up.
He also has blood ties to the Cocopah and Yankton Sioux. He has worked in state and tribal governments, as well as in natural resource and conservation management, for more than 25 years.
Sams is also a Navy veteran and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration, as well as a Master of Legal Studies in Indigenous peoples law.