OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK – Park Superintendent Bill Laitner will retire on Jan. 3 after 34 years in the National Park Service.
But, he said after announcing his plans on Wednesday, his love affair with the Olympic National Park, which has lasted nearly as long as his marriage, won’t end.
He’ll be back as a visitor.
Laitner, 60, said he hopes to spend time camping on the grounds instead of managing them, he said.
The Port Angeles resident said he plans to spend more time with his family.
After his retirement from the superintendent’s post he took in 2003, an interim director will be named and a national search for a new director will start, he said.
No one has been named for the interim position.
Laitner first visited the park in 1969 with his wife, Pat.
“We came to the park for our honeymoon, and went camping out at Kalaloch,” Laitner said.
“I fell in love with it right then.”
The Olympic National Park is special among the national parks, he said.
It’s “three parks in one,” he said: alpine regions with glaciers and mountains, forested lowlands and miles of beaches.
