The National Park Service selected Lena Pace as superintendent of Arches and Canyonlands national parks early this year, and Pace officially began her assignment on April 7. In this position, Pace also supervises the superintendent at Hovenweep and Natural Bridges national monuments.
Love for the national parks runs in Pace’s veins. As a child, Pace’s parents worked for the National Park Service at Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve in Alaska, and Pace began volunteering at the park when she was a teenager.
Pace admitted a career in the national park was never on her mind. Yet as she grew up, she realized that her passion was in the parks.
“Having Glacier Bay as a backyard, spending time there as a kid and growing up with an ethic of resource protection, of protecting a place like Glacier Bay, was so amazing,” Pace said. “And having parents whose job it was to go out and help protect that park and help achieve the Park Service mission, it instilled a deep sense of pride in me.”
After working for a time in Glacier Bay as an interpretative ranger, Pace spent 21 years as a commissioned NPS law enforcement ranger. She has worked at Glacier Bay, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Blue Ridge Parkway, Fire Island National Seashore and in the NPS Intermountain Regional Office. She also served as the NPS Washington Office deputy chief of operations and policy before most recently becoming the chief of the newly established Office of Public Trust.
During her time as a law enforcement ranger, Pace also worked as an EMT and performed rescue operations in the parks. She believes that her time in these positions gave her the skills to make tough decisions and work with a wide variety of people to achieve the mission and goals of the parks for which she worked. Pace has found that these skills have helped her as she’s taken on the role of superintendent.
“I started supervising relatively early in my career,” Pace explained. “I was one of those people who wanted to see change and recognized that I couldn’t just wait for somebody else to do what I thought needed to happen, and that I should step up and try to work on that myself. And really found a passion for leadership.”
Pace is now bringing that passion to Arches, Canyonlands, Hovenweep and Natural Bridges.
“I think what’s impressed me the most is the team that has been stewards of this park prior to me arriving,” Pace said. “The work that they do, the expertise that they have, the passion with which they protect these resources and provide for the safety of visitors, is really inspiring.”
As she’s becoming familiar with the parks and the team, Pace has explored the parks and monuments, learning more about their unique functions. She noted that these parks are “particularly complex” because of the wide array of activities that visitors travel to participate in and the diverse natural and cultural resources within the parks.
When asked how she’s enjoyed living in Moab, Pace responded, “I mean, bottom line, we love it here. I’m really enjoying it, as is my husband.” She added, “I also will say I’m a strong believer that national parks should not only be good neighbors to gateway communities, but that they should be part of the community.” Pace is looking forward to continuing to meet and work with community members and participate in local gatherings and events.
As the new superintendent, Pace hopes to “bring the leadership team together to really move us into the future.” With the vast expertise available through leaders and rangers at the parks, Pace says, “I really think that we have a lot of potential to move it to the next level and do some really amazing things. And so I’m really excited about that.”
