New National Park Superintendent

SJI Nat’l Park Superintendent Elexis “Lex” Fredy – Tim Dustrude photo

Story by Louise Dustrude –

New National Park superintendent Elexis Fredy (“call me Lex”) started work this week after meeting some 30 or 40 local residents on Thursday at a reception at the Historical Museum.

The reception was scheduled for two hours but lasted three, partly because people kept showing up and partly due to her interest in asking people so many questions about the community, about local interest in and support for the Park, and about the pitfalls she should avoid.

She is eager to meet more islanders and says she welcomes drop-ins at the National Park Service office in the Technology Center at the corner of Mullis and Market Streets.

“I want to know what are the highest priorities for people,” she says, pointing out that “the community got the Park established in the first place.”

Fredy came here after after 14 years’ work at Yosemite National Park, where she was the lead manager in the Merced River Plan. She grew up in California — and Yosemite — but then went to high school in southwest Florida, where her father who was with the Park Service was assigned to the Everglades.

She remembers being appalled to see one forested area after another clearcut to become a strip mall, and she wondered to herself, “Who gets to decide?” That led her to major first in environmental science in college, and then to focus more narrowly on natural resources planning.

She and her husband Russell have two daughters, Annabelle, almost 4, and Emilie, almost 2, and they decided from the outset that they would like to raise their children in a small community.

He worked as a wilderness back-country patrol ranger at Yosemite, on horseback, for three years. Before that he worked for the trail crew as a sawyer, “dropping the hazard trees.” But because of federal nepotism rules he won’t be able to work at San Juan Island National Historical Park.

She calls him a Renaissance Man and says she “could see him getting involved with the farming community — he’s an EMT — he has a pretty high service ethic. And it will be wonderful to have him spend time with the girls.” As a back-country ranger he was often gone for two weeks at a time.

Lex is very much aware of the cost of housing here, which she said makes it difficult to hire seasonal staff.

Referring again to last week’s reception she said she wants to “thank everybody for taking time out of their busy day to show support for the Park. I don’t take that for granted.”

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