OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — The top administrator of a federal preserve of cypress-laden wetlands in southern Florida will become the new superintendent of Olympic National Park in mid-July.
Karen Gustin, superintendent of Big Cypress National Preserve in Ochopee, Fla., about 45 miles west of Miami, will replace Bill Laitner, who retired in January.
“I am thrilled to be coming,” Gustin said in an interview on her wireless phone while tending to her daughter’s horse, Sundance, at their Florida home.
“I have worked all over the United States, and this is a great opportunity to get to know the local folks and staff at Olympic.”
Gustin — who will be the 14th superintendent of the park and the second woman superintendent after Maureen E. Finnerty 18 years ago — said she hasn’t been in Olympic National Park.
But she has visited Port Angeles area about a half-dozen times.
“We’ve traveled in that area a lot,” she said, “and I distinctly remember taking the ferry in Port Angeles to Victoria.”
