Newsom Appoints New State Parks Director

This is an extraordinary time in California, considering the COVID-19 spread is still a threat and wildfires are burning throughout the state, though there is progress on that front. But the job of running the Golden State’s state parks is in the hands of a new director.

Here’s the San Jose Mercury News with more:

Gov. Gavin Newsom has named Armando Quintero, 64, of San Rafael, as the director of the state Department of Parks and Recreation. He begins Tuesday.

“It’s an astonishing honor at an extraordinary time,” said Quintero, a former park ranger whose love of nature rose from reading National Geographic while working in his father’s auto shop.

Since 2015, Quintero has worked as executive director of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at UC Merced. Before that, he was director of development there from 2008 to 2014. He also has served on the Marin Municipal Water District board since 2009 and the California Water Commission, where as chairman he oversaw awarding $2.7 billion in state bond funding for new reservoirs and other water projects.