An Army officer joins the National Park Service as the agency’s Western Pacific Region director, with oversight of park units in California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington , in parts of Arizona and Montana and in the territories of Guam, in American Samoa. , and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Frank Lands joins the Park Service after more than 20 years of experience in natural and cultural resource management and conservation programs with the United States military. He is stepping down from his post as deputy garrison commander at Fort Bliss, Texas, and will take up his new post on January 16.

“Frank comes to the National Park Service with a wealth of leadership experience in the direction of natural resources, cultural resources and conservation programs with the United States military, as well as infrastructure and emergency services and security programs. public having supervised the operations in one of the most diverse garrisons of the army of our nation ”, declared Shawn Benge, Deputy Director of the NPS. “His experience aligns with the mission of the NPS and will support the needs of one of our larger regions as the NPS continues to address the challenges of unprecedented wildfires, drought and the COVID pandemic- 19 in progress. “

“Throughout my career, I have looked for opportunities to go back to my roots in natural resources,” Lands said in a prepared statement. “It is an honor to support the mission of the National Park Service and the people who protect and preserve some of our country’s most important places. I am excited to work with Parks and Programs to support the Great American Outdoors Act and the Biparty Infrastructure Act. I look forward to working together to reduce the maintenance backlog, improve infrastructure and have the opportunity to explore the more than 65 parks in the region.

Lands began his career in the United States Army as an Environmental and Forester Specialist in 2000. Over the past 10 years he has served as Deputy Garrison Commander in five major Army positions and facilities. . One of those positions was in Italy, where he created a program to connect Americans to their new Italian communities.

Through his work, he collaborated with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to establish a Memorandum of Understanding for Better Management of Endangered Species on behalf of the US Army Installation Management Command Atlantic Region. It has been deployed twice to Iraq to support infrastructure and facilities management activities for the United States Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development. In addition, he served seven years in the United States Army Military Police.

Most recently, Lands served as the Deputy Commander of the Fort Bliss Garrison, where he led installation operations in support of the Department of Health and Human Services mission to house 10,000 unaccompanied children, and the missions of the Departments of State and Homeland Security to house and assimilate more than 10,000 Afghan evacuees. Lands has also led multi-million dollar capital improvement projects and worked to meet a U.S. Army housing need at Fort Bliss.

In the same role, he managed the Army’s largest cultural resource management program with more than 19,000 archaeological sites and 550 historic buildings. In addition, he has led a workforce of more than 3,800 military, civilian and contract professionals. His experience in the US military has fostered relationships with federal, local and international governments to improve collaboration and communication.

Lands holds an MA in Public Administration from the University of Texas, an MA in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College, and a BS in Forestry and Natural Resources from Ohio State University. He can’t wait to move to the Bay Area, California with his wife, Angela.