Denali National Park and Preserve gets first female superintendent

Brooke Merrell has been selected to serve as the first female Superintendent of Denali National Park and Preserve. Denali National Park has been in operation for 105 years, but until now, has only seen men at the helm. Merrell has been serving as Acting Superintendent at the park for the past nine months.

Merrell first came to Alaska in 2009 as a National Park Foundation Transportation Scholar. In that role she worked on a statewide NPS long range transportation plan. Prior to that, Merrell grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  She went on to obtain a Master of Urban Planning degree from the University of Utah and a law degree from Lewis and Clark Law School.

In an NPS press release, Merrell says she is honored to be selected for the job at Denali National Park and is dedicated to supporting the park and community.

Merrell faces immediate challenges with park infrastructure. A stretch of the park’s main road has been deteriorating for years, due to a slow-moving landslide beneath the road. The landslide is blamed on thawing permafrost, a problem that appears to be accelerating. Park officials previously layered this stretch of road with gravel each year, hoping to stabilize the region. But he rate of road movement within the Pretty Rocks Landslide increased from “inches per year” in 2014 to “inches per hour” in 2021. This prompted Denali to close the park’s main road at the halfway point last year.

Superintendent Merrell will be evaluating and managing the construction of a bridge over the problem area. The project could take upwards of two years to complete, but would restore road access to popular destinations like the Wonder Lake Campground, and Polychrome Pass.