Becky Burghart NPS News:
DENVER — The National Park Service (NPS) has announced that Becky Burghart has been selected as the Site Manager for the Hanford location of Manhattan Project National Historical Park.
Burghart is the Chief of Interpretation at White Sands National Monument in Alamogordo, which is adjacent to White Sands Missile Range, home of the Trinity site where the world’s first atomic bomb explosion occurred in July 1945 as part of the Manhattan Project.
She started her career with the National Park Service (NPS) as a seasonal park ranger at Mesa Verde National Park, moving on to positions at Grand Teton National Park and Chamizal National Memorial, and worked on projects for the Department of Interior International Technical Assistance Program.
In 2011, Burghart won the NPS Intermountain Region Freeman Tilden Award for Excellence in Interpretation for management of the White Sands National Monument visitor center exhibits and orientation film project. She will be starting in her new role soon.
In accepting the position, Burghart said, “This role provides me with a unique opportunity to draw on my interpretive background and community collaboration experience in the early development of one of the newest units of the National Park Service. I’m excited to be part of the team responsible for guiding interpretive planning and setting direction for the park and I look forward to working with the local communities, many of whose stories have a direct connection to the Manhattan Project.”
“Becky comes to Manhattan Project NHP with a breadth of experience facilitating complicated dialogue and interpreting complex histories. She also greatly values the contributions of local communities and external partners, citing them as a key piece in the overall success of the park,” Superintendent Kris Kirby said. “I look forward to working with her as the first Hanford Site Manager for Manhattan Project NHP.”
Formally established in November 2015 via a Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of Energy and the National Park Service to preserve portions of three World War II sites where the United States developed the first atomic weapons, the park marks the history of the people, science, events, and controversy associated with the creation of the atomic bomb in the top-secret effort known as the Manhattan Project. Under the agreement, the NPS operates the park and interprets its history on properties that continue to be owned and managed by DOE.
