Chuck Hunt

Chuck is a native of Texas and developed a passion for conservation from frequent trips to parks in West Texas, especially Garner State Park, and roaming the woods of his grandmother’s farm in East Texas. He was further inspired in graduate school at Texas A&M University as he read about some of the early conservationists, including Horace Albright, Marion Clawson and Sigurd Olson.

Chuck recently completed a forty-year career in federal service, mostly with the National Park Service (NPS). Chuck began Interior Department career in 1989 as a Presidential Management with the BLM. From 1989 to 1999, he served in various roles for BLM in New Mexico and the Washington Office, including serving as Chief of Resources in Southeast New Mexico from 1991-1994. In Washington, DC, he served as Acting Chief of Rangeland Management, Legislative Affairs Specialist and Regulatory Analyst.

He served as a desk officer for the Assistant Secretary of Land and Minerals Management (from 1997 to 1999) where he was lead for standing up the first BLM Resource Advisory Councils across the West and was the Departmental Co-Lead for the development of the Clean Water Action Plan. He was a Fellow in Senator Jeff Bingaman’s Office throughout 1996 and served as the Legislative Assistant for the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, and Energy.

He began his NPS career in 1999. After working a decade at Big Thicket National Preserve and Fort Davis National Historic Site, he accepted a position with the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) as the Director of the Visitor Center at the Normandy American Cemetery. After a couple of years in Normandy, he was promoted to Paris to become a Regional Director for military cemeteries and monuments in France, England, Belgium, and Italy. While with ABMC, he strengthened the Commission’s interpretation and historic preservation programs.

Hunt returned to the NPS in 2013. Apart from the five-year stint with ABMC in France, he served as an NPS Superintendent continuously from May 2006 until his retirement. He served as Superintendent of Fort Davis National Historic Site, Chesapeake Bay Office, Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, Gettysburg National Military Park, Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, and New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park. He also did a detail as the Assistant Director of the NPS Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs in Washington, DC for 16 months.

Chuck is thrilled to have the opportunity to work for the National Park Trust to help parks have a brighter future through strategic land acquisitions and conservation.