Elizabeth Lowthian will become the park’s new Administration Officer beginning Oct. 21.

Originally from Kentucky, Lowthian is a second generation National Park Service employee. Her career began in 1988 as a seasonal park ranger at Boston National Park. After graduating with a bachelor of arts from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, she accepted a fire management assistant position and started her permanent career with the NPS.

In 1993, Lowthian transferred to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon as the budget analyst, and in 1995, accepted her first administrative officer position at Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska. From there Lowthian and her family moved to Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Site in New York where she held the administrative officer position

Eventually, the family relocated to Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin where she worked as the park’s business manager. Lowthian left the federal work force for a time to pursue home schooling her children and retail work. Years later she returned to the Department of the Interior with her husband Doug in a dual-career opportunity at Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Oklahoma. Once there, Lowthian served as the park’s budget analyst and Doug worked as a park guide while pursuing his master’s degree in resource interpretation.

The couple has two children and three dogs and are excited to relocate to the north woods. The entire family enjoys skiing and snowshoeing and looks forward to living in a location with a true winter.

“We lived and worked in some special places throughout the country, however, the Midwest always felt like home,” said Beth Lowthian.