Californian to Head National Park Service : William Penn Mott Was Director of State System Under Reagan

William Penn Mott, a 75-year-old Californian who headed the state’s park system when President Reagan was governor, was chosen Wednesday as director of the National Park Service.

Mott is president of the California State Parks Foundation, a private group he founded in 1975, and general manager of the East Bay Zoological Society in Oakland, where he lives.

Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel, who made the appointment, hailed Mott’s “proven skills and enthusiasm” in a career in parks operation that stretches back to 1933.

Tradition Continued

Mott’s appointment continues the tradition that the director of the National Park Service be a professional in the field. He will succeed Russell Dickenson, a career employee who has retired.

As director of the California Department of Parks and Recreation from 1967 to 1975, Mott doubled the size of the state park system and pioneered the hiring of women as park rangers, the Interior Department said. He has been a consultant on parks to Australia and Costa Rica.

Mott worked for the National Park Service from 1933 to 1946, and from then until 1967 in park systems in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The appointment was praised by environmental groups.

Clay Peters of the Wilderness Society, a group often critical of the Reagan Administration, said: “We support him. . . . From what I can detect, he is extremely vigorous both physically and mentally.”

‘Will Have the Clout’

Destry Jarvis of the National Parks and Conservation Assn. said: “For the first time in this Administration, the Park Service will have the clout within the Administration and outside to compete for its own priorities.”

Jarvis said it was noteworthy that Mott successfully fought off efforts to open the state parks to hunting when he headed the California system.

The National Park Service, which consistently ranks in polls as the most popular federal agency, operates 334 parks and other installations, such as national monuments and battlefields. The service’s budget for the current fiscal year is about $970 million.