Barclay Trimble will be leaving his job as superintendent of the Outer Banks Group of the National Park Service, which includes Cape Hatteras National Seashore, after fewer than two years on the job.
Stan Austin, NPS Southeast Regional Director, made the announcement in a news release on May 27, that Trimble had been selected as a deputy regional director in the Southeast Regional Office in Atlanta. He will begin his new job in August.
Trimble, a 23-year veteran of the Park Service, will oversee the Southeast Region park planning and compliance program, land resources program center, and equal opportunity and diversity programs. He will also be responsible for the Appalachian-Piedmont Cluster, which encompasses national park units in Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as portions of Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
“Barclay recognizes the value of strong business sense in the management of national parks and has a strong history of accomplishing great things through collaboration across the federal government and with a wide range of partners,” Austin said in the media release.
Trimble graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio in business administration and is a certified public accountant. He has served in financial management positions in the Washington, D.C., office and was deputy superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park for five years before becoming superintendent of the Outer Banks Group.
Trimble was selected to succeed Mike Murray as superintendent here in August 2012. His first day on the job was in late October as Hurricane Sandy was passing offshore of the Outer Banks.
Murray, who retired from the Park Service at the end of July, had been superintendent since December 2005.
He guided the seashore through the failed negotiated rulemaking exercise to devise an off-road vehicle plan and rule and then led the staff through formulating what became the plan and final rule in February 2012.
His years as the park’s leader was a contentious almost seven years of conflict among islanders, supporters of more reasonable beach access, environmental groups, and Park Service staff members.
Trimble arrived at the end of the first year of the ORV plan and the new ORV permit system.
His short tenure has not been marked with the contentiousness of the Murray era, but an element of that conflict and distaste for the plan remains and has left many advocates for more reasonable access unhappy, especially with summer natural resources closings that put such popular sites as Cape Point off limits basically from March or early April into August.
Also the legal wrangling over the plan continues.
Trimble is also overseeing the new infrastructure that the plan calls for — such things as new ramps, boardwalks, parking areas, and interdunal roads.
That, too, has caused conflict. Access advocates are unhappy that ORV permit monies are being used to fund improvements for pedestrians, especially in vehicle-free areas.
Jim Keene of the Beach Buggy Association has also led a fight for more transparency in how the park spends its money, especially the permit funds. He has filed Freedom of Information Act requests on the topic and keeps writing to Trimble with questions that he says still are not answered.
Trimble also presided over the government shutdown in October, which closed the seashore beaches and facilities. However, unlike at some sites, ramps here were not chained off and those who drove onto open beaches were basically left alone by park staff.
Trimble’s lowest moment was probably his recent attempt to make up for budget cuts by eliminating the summer lifeguard program at the three guarded seashore beaches.
Ocracoke led the charge to get the decision reversed, and after months of insisting that the park didn’t have the money, Trimble finally relented. The park contracted with a service for lifeguards five days a week. Hyde County and the Dare County Tourism Board paid about $10,000 per beach to cover the other two days.
Trimble’s departure comes at an interesting time for the Outer Banks Group and presents a definite challenge for moving forward.
When Murray retired, deputy superintendent Darrell Echols served as acting superintendent until Trimble arrived. At the time he had been the Outer Banks group deputy for more than five years — experienced, knowledgeable, and pretty well liked.
However, in January, Echols went to the Southeast Region as chief of science and natural resources.
His replacement, Mark Dowdle, was named only on May 5 and has been on the Outer Banks for just a couple of weeks.
It remains to be seen who the Park Service willchoose as an acting superintendent, but apparently it will not be anyone with familiarity with the issues at the seashore.
Today, most folks who were called for comment on the Trimbledeparture, were taken by surprise.
And most felt they couldn’t really give a meaningful response since Trimble has been leading the park for such a short time.
“It’s certainly a surprise,” said David Scarborough, a board member of the Outer Banks Preservation Association. “He’s not really a face to me….It’s hard to tell just what kind of a leader he is.”
“I met the guy a couple of times,” said John Couch, OBPA president. “But what do you say about someone with just a year or so under his belt?”
Couch and some others have felt that Trimble was not much of a presence, especially on Hatteras Island. Couch said he’d give him a “2” out of “10” on community involvement.
“I can’t say that I’ll be happy he’s gone,” he added. “I just hope his replacement works with the community.”
“I don’t know what my reaction is,” said the NCBBA’s Jim Keene. “I didn’t have a problem with the superintendent except that he would not answer a few questions….I still don’t have answers to those questions.”
The bottom line seems to be that no one is particularly eager to see Trimble leave so soon, and everyone will be anxious to find out who his replacement is — whether he or she is an improvement or not.
Trimble said in the May 27 news release that he was “honored” to be chosen for the position and looked forward to working with the “outstanding” people in the regional office.
Today he added that he will be leaving the Outer Banks with “mixed emotions.”
“I will be saddened by leaving this amazing location,” he said, “but we’ve made some good progress and I’ve enjoyed all the amazing people I’ve met.”
Some folks are probably curious why Trimble is leaving so soon after his arrival. Did the job in Atlanta come open and he really wanted it? Did the job come open and the Southeast Region leadership couldn’t live without him in the position? Or did the Park Service leadership decide for whatever reason they wanted Trimble out of the Outer Banks?
Trimble said that the job came open, he thought it was a great opportunity, and he applied for it. He went through a competitive selection process and was interviewed along with other candidates.
He’s going, he says, because he thinks there will be really exciting opportunities in the Southeast Region in the coming years.
