A veteran of Maryland's State Forest and Park Service has been appointed director of Pennsylvania's Bureau of State Parks.

John W. Norbeck, who worked for 29 years in Maryland, succeeds Roger Fickes, who will retire June 23 after directing Pennsylvania's park system of 117 facilities and almost 300,000 acres since 1992. Norbeck begins his new job on June 12.

Norbeck, 50, takes over the reins of a park system where nationally-recognized environmental education, diverse natural resources and wide-ranging outdoor recreation combined to draw almost 40 million visitors in 2005. From the sandy beaches of Lake Erie and Presque Isle to 60 miles of historic canal and river shoreline at Delaware Canal, most Pennsylvanians have a state park within 25 miles of their home.

Presently living in Woodbine, Carroll County, Md., Norbeck plans to purchase a home in the Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, area.

He has served in a variety of public land management positions since starting employment in 1977 with Maryland's Department of Natural Resources State Forest and Park Service. He has worked in field, regional, and central office roles as a ranger, assistant park manager, law enforcement chief, field operations director, and, for the past 10 years, as park regional administrator.

Norbeck graduated from Roanoke College, Va., with a bachelor's degree in biology. He is a 1987 graduate of the FBI National Academy, Quantico, Va.

6/9/2006