Wishing us all success

Voyageurs National Park’s next superintendent has big shoes to fill.
Not big as in size, but big in stature.
Mike Ward will take the helm of Voyageurs National Park in August. We wish him the same kind of success that we watched former Superintendent Kate Miller work so hard to achieve.
Miller’s most obvious achievements involve improving the relationship between Borderland residents and communities and the park. Miller told The Journal prior to her retirement from government service that she wanted to acknowledge the pain and history that local people experienced when the park was created and to change the relationship between the community and park employees. She did just that and it went a long way toward healing that pain. Miller’s management style was a welcome change, following on the heels of the often controversial tenure of former Superintendent Barbara West.
We hope to see Ward continue Miller’s efforts at building a strong, healthy relationship between area residents and the park. Ernie Quintana, regional director of the National Park Service, is familiar with the dysfunctional relationship of the past and encouraged Miller in her efforts.
Quintana’s statements about Ward in a news release lead us to believe that he is confident of Ward’s abilities in that area.
Ward’s park service experience shows that he has worked his way up the NPS ladder, starting as a seasonal employee and landing his first permanent assignment as a maintenance worker.
Miller told The Journal earlier this year that she worked to mend the injured relationship between the park and local residents with “a partnership of people within and outside the park, but I feel a deep down level of satisfaction in where we are now and confidant that it’s going to last.”
We look forward to Ward taking those relationships and partnerships that Miller and others in the community worked so hard to build to the next level.
Welcome, Mike Ward. Your success will also be the community’s success.