National Park Service Director Chuck Sams
NPS photo
Charles F. Sams III
19th Director of the National Park Service
Charles F. “Chuck” Sams III was ceremonially sworn in as the 19th Director of the National Park Service by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland on December 16, 2021.
Sams is a Cayuse and Walla Walla native and an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in northeastern Oregon, where he grew up. He is related to the Cocopa Nation and the Yankton Sioux Tribe of Fort Peck.
Mr. Sams was recently appointed by Oregon Governor Kate Brown to serve on the Pacific Northwest Power Generation and Conservation Council (NW Council) and will serve on the council from March to December 2021. Served. Before he joined the NW Council he was the Executive Director. For the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
Sams has worked in tribal and state government and nonprofit natural resource and conservation management for 30 years, with a focus on strong stewardship of land conservation for current and future generations.
Sams is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, where he served as an intelligence specialist. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Concordia University and a Master of Laws in Indigenous Law from the University of Oklahoma School of Law. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Lori Lynn (Reinecke) Sams and his youngest daughter.
