[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 181 (Friday, December 16, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1722-E1723]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   IN RECOGNITION OF JIM NORTHUP'S RETIREMENT FROM THE NATIONAL PARK 
                                SERVICE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. BARBARA COMSTOCK

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 16, 2016

  Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take this time to 
recognize Jim Northup, who has served our nation for 36 years as an 
extraordinary leader within the National Park Service and will be 
hanging up his ranger hat and retiring on January 2, 2017.
  My constituents in the Northern Shenandoah Valley and I owe Jim 
Northup a special debt of gratitude for going beyond the call of duty 
concerning the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, a 
small but historically important partnership park that is primarily 
located in my Congressional District. After its superintendent retired, 
the park was left without sufficient leadership and there was great 
concern that it would not get the attention from the NPS that it 
needed. Jim, who was already the Superintendent of one of the busiest 
parks in the nation at Shenandoah National Park, took on the additional 
role of Superintendent of the smaller historical park. He generously 
gave of his time and energy in working with site managers Amy Bracewell 
and Karen Beck-Herzog to achieve a number of significant improvements 
in park planning, operations, community relations, and to accomplish an 
ambitious celebration of the National Park Service Centennial at the 
park.
  Always ready for a challenge, Northup began his work with the 
National Park Service in Shenandoah National Park as a seasonal ranger. 
Over the course of his remarkable career, Jim has worked as an 
interpretive and protection ranger, a natural resources specialist, a 
wildland fire and aviation specialist, a chief law enforcement ranger, 
and for the past 12 years, as a superintendent. His assignments have 
included work at Big Bend, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, Grand 
Teton, Guadalupe Mountains and Shenandoah national parks, and Cape 
Hatteras and Fire Island national seashores, the Buffalo National

[[Page E1723]]

River, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and Cedar Creek and Belle 
Grove National Historical Park. He has also done international 
conservation work in Mexico, Canada, the Republic of Georgia and China.
  Mr. Speaker, I wish to conclude my remarks by asking my colleagues to 
join me in recognizing and thanking Parks Superintendent Jim Northup, 
an extraordinary public servant and patriot who has gone significantly 
beyond what would be expected of any individual, to learn about the 
magnificent beauty of our natural resources, our fascinating national 
history, and to do all that he could to protect, preserve and share 
what he had learned with his fellow citizens and with visitors from 
around the world.

                          ____________________