Nebraska Bird Partnership

Steven N. Mietz, currently deputy chief of science and resource management at Grand Canyon National Park, has been selected as the new superintendent for Missouri National Recreational River.  Mietz will begin this new assignment on August 15th, and succeeds Mike Madell, who transferred to Vicksburg National Military Park earlier this year.

“Steve’s experience working on adaptive management of the Colorado River will be invaluable as he assumes this leadership role at Missouri National Recreational River. Also of great benefit will be his work with endangered species and other natural resource management issues,” said Regional Director Ernest Quintana.  “We look forward to welcoming Steve and working with him as the newest member of the Midwest Region management team.” 

 Steven N. Mietz, currently deputy chief of science and resource management at Grand Canyon National Park, has been selected as the new superintendent for Missouri National Recreational River.  Mietz will begin this new assignment on August 15th, and succeeds Mike Madell, who transferred to Vicksburg National Military Park earlier this year.

“I am very excited about working with the staff and our partners along the Missouri River to preserve and restore the native ecosystem while enhancing the exceptional recreational opportunities that already exist,” said Mietz.

For the past 11 years, Mietz has studied the impacts of the Glen Canyon Dam on downstream natural, cultural and recreational resources of the Colorado River within Grand Canyon National Park.  He has worked with partners to mitigate dam-related impacts upon park resources through a variety of management actions. During his tenure as deputy chief of science and resource management, he has negotiated the successful implementation of interagency agreements to carry out conservation measures related to the operation of Glen Canyon Dam.  These measures will help restore the native fishery, return extirpated species to the canyon, and establish a second population of the endangered humpback chub in a tributary of the Colorado River. 

In addition, Mietz has served as park representative for the Glen Canyon Dam adaptive management program technical work group, which consists of 25 stakeholders, including tribes, federal agency representatives, power and water interests, basin state representatives, and environmental and recreation groups tasked with mitigating the downstream impacts of the dam within the park.  He also worked on the team that developed the Colorado River management plan, which changed the way recreational impacts are monitored and mitigated along the river. 

Mietz currently supervises an interdisciplinary group of over 50 employees that includes specialists in wildlife, fisheries, vegetation, hydrology, air quality, geology/geomorphology, restoration ecology, caves, paleontology, fire ecology, GIS, database, abandoned mines lands, integrated pest management, threatened and endangered plants and animals, invasive plants, hazard trees and other natural resource program areas. His office has a budget of over $3 million.

Mietz began working at Grand Canyon National Park in 1999 as the GIS coordinator at the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center, the U.S. Geological Survey’s research arm of the Glen Canyon Dam adaptive management program.  Interested in implementing monitoring and research findings for the benefit of park resources, Mietz started with the park as its GIS program leader in 2003, became acting science information and education services leader in 2007, and served as acting chief of resource management at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Rainbow Bridge National Monument for five months during 2008. 

While at Glen Canyon, he enhanced the zebra/quagga mussel prevention program to provide additional protection of Lake Powell from invasive species through the development of effective partnerships with concessioners, other federal, state and local agencies, tribal governments, utility generators, and other concerned parties.

Prior to working at Grand Canyon, Mietz worked as a seasonal/intermittent park ranger for the Monmouth County park system in New Jersey.  In 1993, he became a GIS specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in their grizzly bear recovery program in Missoula, Montana.  Mietz’s master thesis mapped travel corridors for grizzly bears between large protected areas.   

He moved into the aquatic world when he accepted a position with the University of Montana at the Flathead Lake Biological Station in Polson, Montana.  In April 1997, he became GIS program leader with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Pablo, Montana, where he worked with tribal cultural staff, the tribal council and elders to develop culturally sensitive cartographic products that helped preserve language and traditional cultural/ecological knowledge. 

Mietz was recognized with an award from tribal council for work with tribal legal staff on the Clark Fork River resource damage claim that helped establish treaty water, hunting and fishing rights along this headwater fork of the Columbia River.

A New Jersey native, Mietz earned his bachelor of science in policy analysis, with a minor in park management, and graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University in 1992.  In 1994, he earned his master’s degree in environmental studies, minoring in park management, from the University of Montana. 

His wife, Stephanie, was a librarian for the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center and now takes care of their young son, Jack, and ancient dog Willie.  His personal interests include a variety of outdoor activities including hiking and camping.

“Steve’s experience working on adaptive management of the Colorado River will be invaluable as he assumes this leadership role at Missouri National Recreational River. Also of great benefit will be his work with endangered species and other natural resource management issues,” said Regional Director Ernest Quintana.  “We look forward to welcoming Steve and working with him as the newest member of the Midwest Region management team.”