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For his service and commitment to Yellowstone National Park, Deputy Superintendent Steven F. Iobst has been recognized by the Department of the Interior (DOI).
According to a Yellowstone press release, Iobst received the Interior’s Meritorious Service Award—the second highest honor bestowed by the Secretary of the Interior. Iobst was honored at an event in Old Faithful.
The Meritorious Service Award recognizes employees “who make exceptional and continuing contributions to DOI or one of its bureaus.”
National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis praised Iobst for his “significant and ongoing contributions to both facility and park management issues.” Jarvis also praised Iobst for engaging with visitors while striving to preserve Yellowstone’s natural resources.
Iobst has a long career in not only Yellowstone National Park but the Greater Yellowstone Area, first as an engineer, before assuming managerial duties. From a Yellowstone press release:
Iobst began his career as a student engineer in 1971. In 1974, he accepted his first permanent position as a civil engineer at the Denver Service Center after receiving a B.S. in civil engineering from Virginia Tech. As a designer and construction supervisor he was responsible for facility improvement projects in over 40 parks, which included short-term assignments at Shenandoah, Yosemite, Acadia, St. Gaudens, Gateway, Fire Island, and the Virgin Islands national park sites. He practiced engineering at Yellowstone beginning in 1979 in maintenance and concessions management and worked directly for the superintendent overseeing planning and development. He left Yellowstone in 1988 to take the position of chief of facility management for Rocky Mountain National Park. He also served as the acting chief of facility management in Washington, D.C. in 1996. In 1997 Iobst returned to the greater Yellowstone area as assistant superintendent at Grand Teton National Park and served as acting superintendent at Grand Teton from November 2000 to February 2002.
Iobst was appointed deputy superintendent of Yellowstone National Park on August 14, 2011. He directs day-to-day operations of the 2.2 million acre park, supervising the largest park operations program in the National Park Service. Operations include emergency medical, law enforcement, search and rescue, science and research, business management, resource education, youth programs, wildland and structural fire programs, as well as contracting, property control, and human resources.
Iobst has led and contributed to a variety of programs and initiatives, ranging from park road improvements (through the Federal Land Highways Program) to work with the Yellowstone Park Foundation to, among other things, create a micro-hydro plant in the Park, reduce carbon emissions at Lamar Buffalo Ranch, install energy efficient windows in NPS/government facilities throughout the Park, and modernize the Park’s vehicle fleet.
