– Submitted by the National Park Service

Elexis Fredy has been selected as the new superintendent at San Juan Island National Historical Park in Washington state. She replaces Lee Taylor who left earlier this year to become deputy superintendent of Olympic National Park. Fredy begins her new role on Feb. 7.

Fredy is currently an interdisciplinary planning project manager at Yosemite National Park. Over the last few years she has been developing an implementation strategy for the Merced River Plan, which guides management of Yosemite Valley.

“Lex has a proven track record of bringing people together to understand issues and opportunities and then chart a path forward,” said Acting Pacific West Regional Director Martha Lee. “We look forward to her bringing her energy and experience to San Juan Island.”

Prior to her present position in Yosemite, Fredy worked in several other capacities at the same park, including roles as branch chief for environmental planning and compliance, management assistant to the superintendent, branch chief of public involvement and outreach, and concessions management specialist. Her initial experience with the national parks came while earning a Bachelor of Science degree at Humboldt State University, when Fredy worked summer jobs at Grand Teton National Park and Yosemite in the entrance stations, at campgrounds, and on fire teams. She then served as a consultant for two years before joining the National Park Service permanently.

“I’m particularly fond of the Pacific-Northwest and the Puget Sound area,” said Fredy. “My family and I are ecstatic to have the opportunity to join the community of Friday Harbor. And I look forward to many years of working with the park’s management team and stakeholders on the variety of issues at San Juan Island National Historical Park.”

Over the last four years, Fredy and her husband, Russell, have been focused on raising their two daughters, Annabelle and Emilie. They enjoy long walks in quiet mountain forests, camping trips, pack trips in the Yosemite Wilderness, cycling, gardening, and spending time with friends and family.

San Juan Island National Historical Park tells the story of an unusual conflict, the so-called “Pig War”, during which the United States and Great Britain established military camps at either end of San Juan Island. The island – second-largest among an archipelago of the same name – is well known for splendid vistas, quiet woodlands, and one of the last remaining native prairies in the Puget Sound/Salish Sea region. But it was also here in 1859 that the United States and Great Britain nearly went to war over possession of the islands after an American farmer shot and killed a pig owned by an employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company. After an initial military escalation, a stalemate followed for more than a decade, until the two countries agreed to settle the matter through arbitration by Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, who determined that the islands would belong to the United States.