Meet Neil King: Minidoka's First Superintendent
Meet Neil King, the first Superintendent of Minidoka National Historic Site
By Camille Daw, Fellow, Friends of Minidoka
In honor of Veterans Day in November, we are highlighting a veteran both of military service and National Parks service –- Neil King, the first superintendent of Minidoka National Historic Site. Born in Southwestern Colorado, Neil grew up in the Four Corners region, and upon graduating from high school, enlisted in the Navy.
Neil began his National Parks career at Mesa Verde National Park as a seasonal interpreter. After five years at Mesa Verde, he began his first permanent position at Indiana Dunes National Park where he received his law enforcement credentials. When Neil first arrived at Indiana Dunes, the site had about 7 people on staff, and when he left, it had grown to nearly 67 people.
From Indiana, Neil moved to Idaho and began working as Chief Ranger at Craters of the Moon National Monument. As the monument was still relatively new, the site was built from the ground up. Neil was responsible for establishing a fee collection, a campground, and resource management program. He also handled many mule deer poaching cases. Despite the hard work, Neil remembers this position fondly as this was one of his last “field positions.” From Craters of the Moon, he moved again to Jerome, Idaho, to work at the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument as a unit manager. While working at Hagerman Fossil Beds, Neil King worked to implement trails, interpretive signage, and created exhibitions at a small visitor’s center in Hagerman.
In late 2000, Neil received a phone call from Destry Jarvis asking him to represent the National Park Service at Minidoka with a team of individuals working to designate Minidoka as a unit of the National Park Service. After President Bill Clinton designated Minidoka as a unit of the National Park Service, Neil King became the superintendent of the site.
In the early years of Minidoka’s establishment, Neil worked tirelessly, among many others, to develop Minidoka’s General Management Plan (GMP) and Environmental Impact Statement. Though this was not the first time he had contributed to a GMP, Minidoka’s GMP required a NPS employee who understood the significance of the Japanese American community’s input. King remained superintendent through battles such as a proposed concentrated animal feed operation (CAFO), the Big Sky farm, that would impact the site’s integrity, and with a phenomenal push from the Japanese American community, prevented the CAFO from being constructed.
Though retired, Neil King remains an integral part of the Minidoka community. He continues to advocate for education on the incarceration experience and supports the goals and visions of the National Park Service and Friends of Minidoka today. We want to acknowledge all Neil has done to help tell the story of Minidoka and thank him for serving his country, both in the Armed Forces and as a National Park Service Ranger and Superintendent.
Read Neil’s essay, Day of Remembrance: Why I Care, written for the 80th Anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, It was published in our February 19, 2022 newsletter: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x_u4z4mvAsfhioecQomrdPBlsxO0RNyzBQeMF1fQXus/edit?usp=sharing
Watch The Origin Story of Minidoka National Historic Site with panelists Neil King, Dan Sakura, Anna Tamura, Emily Hanako Momohara, Wade Vagias, and Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong.
https://youtu.be/rwfKmOwvyXM