Our Staff & Offices

What is the High Plains Group of Parks?

The High Plains Group of Parks consists of three national park units in southeast Colorado,(Amache National Historic Site, Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, and Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site) and one in northeast New Mexico (Capulin Volcano National Monument). While the four parks may seem disconnected, there is in fact a cohesive story driven by Indigenous peoples, European colonization, Westward expansion, trade, and agriculture leading to distinct moments of opportunity, tragedy, and persecution. The four parks also illustrate three distinct eras in public lands and public history management.

 

Leadership of the High Plains Group of Parks

The four parks share personnel and other resources and plan activities, budgets, staffing and priority setting together. Park staff is organized by function and includes the programs overseeing Management & Administration; Interpretation, Education, and Visitor Experience, Facility Management, Cultural Resource Management, and Tribal Liaison. Each program is overseen by a manager or senior leader, who then all report up to the superintendent, and work with the site managers. Each of the individual park units is supervised by a site manager who reports to the superintendent. 

Management and Administration Program

Superintendent: Eric Leonard
Administrative Officer: Vicki Wallner

This program is responsible for managing and supervising all park operations and activities, and overseeing permanent and seasonal employees of the National Park Service. The management team includes the Superintendent, Site Managers, Administrative Officer, and other program managers. This program acts as the “business office” and deals with activities related to administrative, managerial, planning, and support functions. Its principal functions include human resources, budget, purchasing, property management, housing, concessions management, the volunteer program, and IT support.

Interpretation, Education, and Visitor Experience Program

Interpretation, Education, and Visitor Experience Manager: Jake Koch
Capulin Volcano National Monument Interpretation and Fees Manager: Geoff Goins
This program is responsible for providing information, education programs, and services to park visitors and neighbors about the natural and cultural resources, facilities, and policies of all the park units in the group. The program manages public facing information and services including park publications, interpretive exhibits, and operations of the reconstructed fort. Visitor Experiences park rangers provide a variety of programs and other activities to the public.

Cultural Resources and Tribal Liaison Program

Interdisciplinary Cultural Resource Program Manager and Tribal Liaison: Dominic Henry

Our Park Tribal Liaison Program supports Government-to-Government consultation with Tribes and Indigenous groups traditionally associated with Amache National Historic Site. As a federal agency trustee under the Department of the Interior, the National Park Service adheres to United States Treaty obligations with federally recognized tribes whose ancestral usual and accustomed territories fall within present-day park lands. Our program engages Tribal partners in regulatory compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and other United States federal statutes, Executive Orders, and policies related to historic properties of religious and cultural significance.

Facility Management and Natural Resources Program

Facility Manager: Bill Allen

The Facilities program maintaining all roads, trails, buildings, utilities, grounds, vehicles, and other physical facilities in the parks to ensure they are safe and in good condition. The division also manages facility construction and rehabilitation projects to support the operation. of all parks in the group. 

Amache National Historic Site

Site Manager: Chris Mather

Amache National Historic Site was designated by Congress on March 18, 2022 (Public Law [PL] 117-7 106) to preserve, protect, and interpret resources associated with the incarceration and military service of civilians of Japanese ancestry during World War II at the Granada Relocation Center—more commonly known as Amache. The act also directs the National Park Service (NPS) to interpret the public reaction to the incarceration of Japanese Americans in Colorado and the transition and resettlement of incarcerees and their descendants after the closure of the camp. Amache is also included in the Japanese American World War II History Network established on December 29, 2022.

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site commemorates the role of the historic Bent's Fort along the Arkansas River. The Bent, St. Vrain & Company built the fort in 1833 to trade with the  Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes for bison robes. For much of its 16-year history, the fort was the only major white American permanent settlement on the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and the Mexican settlements. It's use as a trading post ended through abandonment in 1849.The area of the fort was designated a National Historic Site on June 3, 1960 and further designated a National Historic Landmark on December 19, 1960. Archeological excavations and original sketches, paintings, and diaries were used to reconstruct the fort during the United States bicentennial and Colorado’s centennial in 1976.

Capulin Volcano National Monument

Site Manager: Dale Kissner

Capulin Volcano National Monument was established by President Woodrow Wilson on August 9, 1916 to preserve the nearly perfectly shaped volcanic cinder cone, which stands more than 1,200 feet above the surrounding high plains of northeastern New Mexico. A two-mile paved road spirals up to the volcano rim making Capulin Volcano one of the most accessible volcanoes in the world. The unobstructed, panoramic views of the volcanic field, distant Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and portions of four states (Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas) provide outstanding opportunities for visitors to understand and appreciate the geologic history of northern New Mexico.

Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site

Site Manager: Vacant

Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site commemorates the November 29, 1864, attack on a village of about 700 Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho people along Sand Creek (Big Sandy Creek and Sand Creek refer to the same drainage and are synonymous terms) in southeastern Colorado Territory, about 170 miles southeast of Denver. At dawn, approximately 675 soldiers of the 1st and 3rd Regiments, Colorado Volunteer (U.S.) Cavalry, killed more than 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho over the course of seven hours.