Kristen Brengel is leaving the National Parks Conservation Association after 17 years as the influential parks group’s top lobbyist.
Brengel announced her departure Thursday in an email to colleagues, calling her time leading government affairs at NPCA the “honor” of her professional career.
“Looking back on my time at NPCA, I’m blown away by what we’ve managed to protect together,” she said, citing new national monuments and parks, stronger conservation policies, and the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, as well as “quiet, daily victories behind the scenes.”
Brengel was a key voice on major park issues, including surging visitation and declining staffing numbers. She was an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump’s effort to slash the park workforce last year and during his first term opposed the administration’s push to shrink national monuments.
