Cam Sholly will join the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Yellowstone news release says
By Daily Montanan Staff DAILY MONTANAN
After nearly eight years leading Yellowstone National Park, Superintendent Cameron “Cam” Sholly will join the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, said a news release Friday from Yellowstone park and the Department of the Interior.
The announcement said Sholly will conclude nearly 30 years with the National Park Service later this month.
He will join the foundation as its chief operating officer. The news release said the foundation was chartered by Congress in 1984 and is the nation’s largest conservation foundation.
The National Park Service has already started a search for the next Yellowstone superintendent and will announce an interim leader separately, the news release said.
In a statement, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum thanked Sholly for his service to the parks.
“Cam is an exceptional leader who delivered extraordinary results for Yellowstone National Park and the American people,” Burgum said. “His dedicated leadership leaves Yellowstone stronger, safer and better prepared for the future.”
The news release said Sholly led “one of the nation’s largest and most complex national park operations,” and it outlined some of his achievements since 2018 as follows:
- In his tenure, Yellowstone put more than $1.5 billion to work in conservation and infrastructure projects,
- The park made “historic investments” in native fisheries, wildlife conservation and infrastructure,
- It expanded bison transfers to tribal nations, and
- Yellowstone launched one of the largest public-private employee housing initiatives in National Park Service history.
“Sholly also guided Yellowstone through the Covid-19 pandemic, record visitation and the historic floods of 2022,” the news release said.
It said following the floods, the park reopened 93% of Yellowstone within 20 days and restored access through the damaged northern entrance in less than four months.
“Serving as superintendent of Yellowstone has been the greatest professional honor of my life,” Sholly said in a statement. “Everything we accomplished was made possible by an extraordinary team of employees and partners who care deeply about this park.”
Sholly began his career with the park service as a seasonal employee in Yellowstone in 1990, according to the news release. He also directed the National Park Service’s midwest region, with 61 national parks in 13 states, and helped lead “the $380 million public-private transformation of Gateway Arch National Park.”
He has received the Presidential Rank Award, the federal government’s highest recognition for members of the senior executive service, and a meritorious service award from the Department of the Interior, among other leadership awards, the news release said.
“I look forward to joining the NFWF team and continuing important conservation work on a national scale,” Sholly said in the news release.
