Interim parks chief sees many challenges ahead

Mary Tullius isn't sure what job title she'll hold as new political appointments are made this month.

For now it's "interim director of the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation." Otherwise, she's a temp who is overseeing the state's 42 parks and some 280 employees.

It's a job she's held for nearly a year. It came with strings attached — one to the chair she current occupies. New governors often hire new division directors.

Still, it was a situation she felt comfortable with, one she decided early on to go "full-steam ahead . . . I owed that much to the other employees. I needed to create a sense of direction that moved us forward. And, we have moved forward.

"But knowing, in the back of my mind all the time, someone else could come in and may decide to go in another direction. But I did what I intended to do, which was to make a contribution."

Knowing, too, that she was stepping into uncharted waters. She was a woman moving into a male-dominated profession.

"There are very few women in leadership roles in the parks and recreation field, but there are getting to be more. Throughout my profession, I've felt the pressure (of being a woman). I think a lot of women in this field feel that way," she said.

Her intention way back was not to break ground. She grew up in Idaho, graduated from Brigham Young University and set off for a career in video and photography. She took a job with the state in 1979, then joined state parks in 1987 in public affairs.

In 1992, then-director Courtland Nelson created a position for a deputy director and encouraged Tullius to apply. She filled that position until last January when Nelson announced he was taking a park directorship in Minnesota.

She was asked to "fill in." Her career moves, she felt, gave her the foundation she needed, and her knowledge of the division sealed the decision.

"We've gone through some changes in the last five years," she said in review. "They started with the budget cuts. Like other state agencies, we were moving along, making good revenue and doing a lot of good things and looking long-term," she recalled.

"The budget cuts hit, and we had to take a step back. Then, after 9/11, park visitation dropped, and that meant that along with the budget cuts we lost a significant amount of money at the park gates. We lost roughly $8 million.