Oakland Man Reportedly to Head U.S. Park Service

William Penn Mott Jr., an Oakland zoo official who ran the California parks system when Ronald Reagan was governor, soon will be named to head the Interior Department’s National Park Service, Administration sources said Friday.

The sources said Mott’s selection probably will be made public next week, when the White House also is expected to nominate Interior Department official William Horn to be assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks.

Conservationists generally welcomed word of Mott’s appointment Friday but said his views on park policies are likely to contrast sharply with those of Horn, who would be Mott’s superior if his nomination is confirmed by the Senate.

Mott, 75, is an outspoken conservationist who has favored increased spending for parkland acquisition. He has waged a public campaign for the park service job since the service’s last director, Russell Dickinson, left the post early this year.

Horn, who was an aide to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) before moving to the Interior Department under former Secretary James G. Watt, has been strongly criticized by conservation groups for what they claim are his anti-park policies. He currently is a special assistant to Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel.

William Turnage, president of the Washington-based Wilderness Society and one of the Interior Department’s strongest critics, Friday called Mott “a first-class conservationist and parks man.”

“Our concern, of course, is whether he will be allowed to change the past policies,” Turnage said. “Can he acquire land when there’s nothing in the budget for it?”

Mott “basically believes in the idea of parks, which is reassuring,” Sierra Club conservation director John A. McComb said. “But he’s going to have a real uphill battle.”

“It will be interesting to see how he reconciles his sympathy for parks with an Administration that says ‘No more,’ ” he said.

Mott directed California’s Parks and Recreation Department under then-Gov. Reagan. He is currently general manager of Oakland’s Knowland Park Zoo and president of the Oakland-based California State Parks Foundation. He holds degrees in landscape architecture from Michigan State University and UC Berkeley.