Hanford national park site gets new superintendent

DENVER — The National Park Service has appointed Wendy Berhman the new superintendent for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes the Hanford site, according to a statement from the NPS.

“Wendy has vast experience working with both long-range and strategic planning,” said Acting Regional Director Kate Hammond in the statement. “Her commitment to stakeholder and employee engagement and partnerships, her expertise in visitor use management and tourism, and her passion for the Manhattan Project story will be excellent assets in the park’s next chapter.”

Berhman is responsible for the daily operations and staff at each of the three park sites, the statement said. Managed in partnership with the DOE, the park preserves and interprets the nationally significant historic sites, stories and legacies associated with the top-secret race to develop an atomic weapon during World War II. The other two sites are at Los Alamos, New Mexico and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The three were turned into the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in 2015.

“I am honored to have been selected as the Manhattan Project National Historical Park superintendent,” Berhman wrote in the statement. “The legacy of the Manhattan Project is both enormous and complex, and I look forward to working in partnership with the Department of Energy to administer the park. I am excited to work with the park team, Tribes, local communities, and partners to enhance the visitor experience by expanding park programming to share underrepresented narratives and history and expand local and regional tourism opportunities."