YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK
MIHALIC, DAVID Yosemite
Manager-Cherokee Indian: Secretary
of the Interior Bruce Babbitt is making a special trip to Yosemite to announce
he is replacing National Park Service veteran Stanley Albright, 68, as the
park's superintendent. In his place,
Babbitt is expected to name David Mihalic, 53, an American Indian who is
currently superintendent of Glacier National Park in Montana. In an interview
yesterday, Babbitt said he "pleads guilty to an intense personal interest
in Yosemite and to getting the general management plan under way on my
watch." Like other Clinton administration officers, Babbitt will be out of
office by January 2001. Mihalic is considered a rising star in the park
service. He had been picked for special executive training and in the past six
months has been on leave, from his Glacier job to be resources adviser to
Montana Gov. Mark Racicot. Mihalic is also a member of the Cherokee Indian
tribe and is the highest ranking American Indian in the park service.