Mott, William Penn.

Director of the National Park Service 1985-1989; Director of the California State Department of Parks and Recreation, 1967-1975; General Manager of the East Bay Regional Park Destrict, 1962-1967; Superintendent of Parks for Oakland, California, 1946-1962.

William Penn Mott, Jr. (1909-1992) was manager of the Oakland Park Dept. and later the East Bay Regional Park District. He also served as Director of both the California Dept. of Parks and Recreation (1967-1975) and the U.S. National Park Service (1985-1989).

Biographical Information

William Penn Mott, Jr., (1909-1992) received his bachelors degree in Landscape Architecture at the University of Michigan and his masters from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1933 Mott went to work for the National Park Service as a landscape architect helping develop facilities for Death Valley, Sequoia, Grant (now Kings Canyon), and Crater Lake National Parks and overseeing the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps in several western parks. In 1940 he opened a landscape architecture practice and provided park planning for several Bay Area communities. The Oakland Park Department, under Mott’s supervision from 1945, gained national recognition for its city beautification program and for being the first urban park department to hire a full time naturalist. In 1950 Mott developed Oakland’s Children's Fairyland believed to be the first children's theme park in the country and an influence on the later creation of Disneyland.

Robert Gordon Sproul recruited Mott to manage the East Bay Regional Park District in 1962. During his tenure he worked to professionalize the management and maintenance of the parks, helped bring Contra Costa County into the District, substantially increased the acreage of park holdings, and introduced the idea of a ring of ridge line trails along the hills that surround the San Francisco Bay. This project, now known as the Bay Area Ridge Trail, remained an interest throughout his life.

Governor Ronald Reagan named Mott, Director of the California State Department of Parks and Recreation. During his eight years as director (1967-1975), Mott created the Asilomar Training Facility for professional park rangers and peace officers, widened policy to allow women and people with social science degrees to become state park rangers, and significantly expanded the state park system. Mott founded the California State Parks Foundation in 1969 to help finance the acquisition and maintenance of state parks through private funding. He served as president of the Foundation from 1975 to 1985.

Director of the United States National Park Service from 1985-1989, Mott concentrated on keeping all of the national parks open and on protecting their natural resources from development. He initiated two new types of national parks - the national wild and scenic rivers and the tallgrass prairie reserve, and started the Horace Albright Fund, a privately funded program that supports park service personnel who wish to take a leave of absence in order to further their educational or career goals. Mott supported a number of controversial policies and programs including charging entrance fees to the major parks, the decision to allow the Yellowstone fires of 1988 to burn, and the proposal to reintroduce wolves into Yellowstone National Park. During the Yellowstone fires and the ensuing political fallout, Mott staunchly defended the career employees who had followed National Park Service policies concerning fire control and patiently explained to the press the necessity of fire to the natural environment. The Wolf Reintroduction Program opposed by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Fish and Wildlife Service, was not initiated during Mott's lifetime.