Mark Hardgrove: Virgin Islands National Park

Virgin Islands National Park Superintendent Mark Hardgrove is a one-man cheerleader for the park he heads, as well as the entire National Park Service system.

"The National Park Service is the best idea America ever had," he says.

Hardgrove's been superintendent at the St. John park since September 2007, but he's no stranger to the facility. He served as the St. John park's acting superintendent in the dark days following Hurricane Marilyn's devastating passage in 1995. He was on a hiatus from his job as deputy superintendent at San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico.

Currently, he oversees a staff of 65 people. The challenges are many, but funding is chief among them.

"My main focus is to prepare the park for the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016," he says.

This means getting the park's degraded facilities and cultural resources in much better shape. The park has a $22 million maintenance backlog.

He's also tackled the community's issues with the park, mainly by getting out and about in the community.

Hardgrove sees the park as part of St. John, which he said needs a master plan that includes the park. He said St. John's rampant development has had a negative impact on the park's natural resources.

While the park, like all national parks around the country, faces challenges, Hardgrove said he enjoys the territory's people and culture as well as working with the government to protect the natural resources and promote the territory as a tourism destination.

A career park employee, he got his start with the Bureau of Land Management but quickly moved on the National Park Service in 1972. He spent his early park years in the maintenance division, starting out as a seasonal janitor at the C&O Canal National Historic Park in Maryland.

Hardgrove moved up the ranks, serving at parks around the Southeast Region, including nearby Puerto Rico, until he landed as deputy superintendent at the trio of parks on North Carolina's Outer Banks that includes Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Along the way, he earned a bachelor's degree in public administration from LaSalle University, an online institution.

He and his wife, Millie Flores, have between them four children ages 17 to 23. She works as the Park Service's Caribbean historian. Her post involves working with parks in San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Croix; and, of course, St. John.