Arthur Eck was born in Casper, Wyoming, and grew up in Thermopolis, a small town in north central Wyoming. He graduated high school there in 1967 and in that same year, began college at the American University in Washington, D.C., from which he holds a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies.
In November of 1968, he began working in the United States Senate, on the personal staff of then-Senator Gale W. McGee of Wyoming. Art began a series of U.S. Senate Committee assignments (1970-1977) as a Professional Staff Member across a field of topics ranging from civil service matters to environmental issues.
Art joined the National Park Service in 1977, working in the Office of Legislation at the Service’s national headquarters in Washington, D.C. He supervised legislative and new area issues for the Midwest, Rocky Mountain (then), Southeast and Northeast Regions of the National Park Service. During that time he provided legislative support, including the drafting of legislation, for hundreds of national park measures, including laws that led to the establishment of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia, and Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York.
In 1982, Eck transferred to the Ranger Activities Division in Washington, D.C., where he drafted regulations used day-to-day by the National Park Service in the administration and protection of national parks. Arthur accepted his first field assignment to a national park in June 1983, when he became Assistant Superintendent of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, located in south-central Missouri. There he oversaw the daily park operations. In 1988, he became Deputy Superintendent of Redwood National Park in northern California. During that time, he supervised general park activities and took on a number of special assignments, most notably the creation of a partnered operation with California State Parks to encompass both federal and state parklands at Redwood. During these years, he also served limited terms as Acting Superintendent of the Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway on the Minnesota-Wisconsin border, and as Acting Superintendent of Saguaro National Monument (now National Park) in Tucson, Arizona.
Art became the fourth superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in July 1995. Adjacent to Los Angeles, the park serves an estimated 33 million visitors a year through a collaboration of Federal, State and local parks. The National Recreation Area is the world’s largest urban national park and our Nation’s best example of a mainland Mediterranean Biome, the most diminished and threatened collection of ecosystems found on earth.
Art Eck began serving as Deputy Regional Director for the Pacific West Region in October 2001, and for a brief span of time in 2002 served as Acting Regional Director. In 2003 he become one of the principal architects of that Regional Office’s restructuring effort. He served in that capacity until February 2004, when by his own work and design, his position was abolished and he retired.
He continues to work on behalf of federal and state agencies on a frequent basis; principally serving as an instructor and consultant in the development of leadership skills, team building and effective management practices. Art began his " teaching career" for the National Park Service in 1985, when he was certified as a Situational Leadership instructor. Since that time, he has taught this and other courses to over 2500 park professionals. In 1994,he was name requested by the Ohio State Parks to teach leadership skills to their entire corps of park superintendents. In 2004, he was asked to return to provide leadership instruction for the latest generation of park managers in Ohio. In 2005, Art completed Eppley Institute training at Indiana State University, to serve as an volunteer instructor with the NPS Fundamentals Program
When time permits, he also develops management analyses and writes reports under contract for parks and regional offices, on topics such as Core Operations, Organizational Effectivemess and Performance Management. His spare time is dedicated to watercolor painting (frequently national park landscapes), as well as management and fund-raising for a nonprofit park support group, the Santa Monica Mountains Fund.
Arthur and Lori, his wife of 25 years and native of Sacramento, California, reside with two cats in Thousand Oaks, California.
Last update: 06/2007
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