smokies selects seasoned manager

     Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson and Deputy Superintendent Kevin FitzGerald have recently selected a seasoned manager to oversee the Park’s diverse natural and cultural resources in naming Jeff Troutman as the new Chief of Resource Management and Science.
    As the lead resource official, Troutman will manage a broad spectrum of resource management activities that serve to protect this immense biodiversity and preserve a significant historic culture representing thousands of years of history.  
     “Troutman’s 28 years of National Park Service leadership and resource management assignments have gained him the experience to skillfully oversee these wide-ranging programs and create new initiatives and partnerships that will help the Park handle new challenges on the horizon,” said Ditmanson.
     The division’s many responsibilities include:  fire, fisheries, wildlife, and vegetation management; inventorying and monitoring of air, water and biological resources; and coordination of myriad research and scientific activities, including a long-term study of all living things.
     On the cultural side, management of 19th and 20th Century historic structures, archeological sites and artifacts, cultural landscapes, and museum collections of thousands of artifacts, photos, and records all have an integral part in preserving the human history and telling the stories of the past through prehistoric times to the native American Indians and early European settlers.
    Troutman was born in Bristol, Tenn., and grew up mostly on the east coast.  
     “It’s great to be home,” he said. “After adventuring and working in national parks around the country, I truly appreciate the beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains and the great communities that surround the Park.       “Through sound scientific principles, I look forward in helping to protect, restore, and maintain these outstanding resources --all vital to the well being of the Park, but also to the visitors who come now and those that follow, as these are the essence of the Smokies”
     Troutman’s wife, Debbie and their two children, Andy, 13, and Kestrel, 10, have joined him at the Smokies.  Their children are attending Pi Beta Phi Elementary School in Gatlinburg.