Recreation Area Superintendent to Retire : Environment: Park service official David E. Gackenbach oversaw expansion of parkland in the Santa Monicas.

David E. Gackenbach, a low-key career federal parks official who oversaw a large expansion of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in his five years as superintendent, is retiring, a spokeswoman said Friday.

Gackenbach, 51, took a voluntary buyout offer from the National Park Service and is expected to depart next month, said spokeswoman Jean Bray. A replacement has not yet been named. Gackenbach could not be reached for comment Friday.

Under Gackenbach, the national recreation area grew from 13,000 to 21,000 acres, said Joseph Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

“In my opinion, he’s the best superintendent the park has had. He worked closely with the congressional delegation, and he worked closely with us. And he saw as his No. 1 job getting the park expanded . . . in as fast a manner as possible.”

Edmiston said Gackenbach did “miraculous things” to line up $16.7 million in NPS funds to buy the 2,300-acre Jordan Ranch from entertainer Bob Hope in 1993--the largest single addition to the national recreation area.

Gackenbach also was instrumental in lengthening the Backbone Trail, a hiking path along the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains from Topanga State Park to Point Mugu State Park, Edmiston said.

Dave Brown, a longtime Sierra Club activist, said Gackenbach came under fire from environmental “purists” who opposed an early version of the Jordan Ranch deal that involved a swap of 59 acres of national parkland for about 1,200 acres of private land.

However, more pragmatic conservationists believed Gackenbach did a good job with the limited public funds available for purchases of new parkland, Brown said.

Gackenbach, who spent 17 years with the National Park Service, eschewed publicity and often worked behind the scenes, taking advantage of his wide network of park service contacts to benefit the Santa Monica Mountains, Brown said. Edmiston said Gackenbach worked at NPS’ Washington headquarters for 10 years as head of the park-concessions division.

“A lot of good he did very quietly,” said Brown. “A lot of it was interpersonal contact he didn’t get a lot of credit for.”

Bray said she didn’t know what Gackenbach plans to do after retiring. But Edmiston said the retiring superintendent is taking a job as vice president of a company in Arizona.