Even though Mike Ward works for the National Park Service, he hasn’t been fishing in about 10 years, but he expects that to change within the next month or so.

Ward is the new superintendent of Voyageurs National Park. He comes from one of the most urban national park properties in the Midwest, the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis, and takes over nearly a quarter of a million acres of land and water on the Canadian border on Aug. 21.

"I’ve been so embroiled here that I haven’t had a chance to fish," he told me. "I’m hoping to run into a guide who can show me where the fish are [in Minnesota]. And I mean the big fish. Not like the size you get around here."

There is no shortage of experts from International Falls to Crane Lake, and the four large lakes in the park have plenty of fish. That’s part of the attraction of the new assignment for Ward, 42, who has spent his entire career at U.S. Grant, where he began as a maintenance worker and climbed the ladder as the historic site grew from “a complete and utter mess” into a respected attraction.

"I was part of the park management team for the entire process of creating it," he said.

Now he’s looking at new challenges at Minnesota’s only national park. I’ve written about some of the issues, including funding for Horseshoe Island and other park property and the handgun controversy.

But there are other issues.

Managing the park’s natural resources and making it accessible for as many visitors as possible – two goals that often clash, and have since the National Park Service was created in 1916 – will be Ward’s biggest hurdle. "There are always natural resource issues, like water quality," he said.

One priority is to work with International Falls on office space to lease, he said.

Ward replaces the popular (and now retired) Kate Miller, who built important bridges with area residents during her tenure, lessening some of the hard feelings caused when the park was created in the 1970s. "I can’t fill Kate’s shoes, but I hope to carry it on," Ward said. "My intent is to get my family in the community and become part of the community. The park is their backyard, and we have to be cognizant of how they feel about the park in their backyard."

Voyageurs was authorized in 1971 and opened in 1975. Last year, 220,650 visitors came to the park, which was down a bit from historic highs.

Ward, who grew up in Springfield, Ill., and his wife have two preteen children. Part of the reason for the move is that "our kids have been in an urban and suburban environment, and we want to expose them to a natural environment," he said. He first saw Voyageurs in 1992 and "fell in love with the park."

"I’m even going to try ice fishing," he said.