In these previous leadership roles, Mietz identified creative funding sources via state and local government agencies and nonprofits. He also established nonprofit park “friends groups,” oversaw scientific research and large-scale landscape projects, and managed thousands of employees who stewarded millions of acres and visitors annually. Throughout his public service career, Mietz has forged innovative, sustainable programs and partnerships, especially in connection with tribal groups, that have yielded new models for managing public lands.
During his time as superintendent of Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP), Mietz partnered with Save the Redwoods League and California State Parks to establish and lead Redwoods Rising, an unprecedented public-private partnership to accelerate the pace and scale of restoration work across 70,000 acres of previously logged redwoods parkland. He also helped craft a first-of-its-kind agreement to establish a southern gateway to RNSP that the parks will co-manage with the Yurok Tribe on a property that the League will convey to tribal ownership in 2026. Mietz was named Superintendent of the Year for Natural Resource Stewardship by the National Park Service in 2022 for going above and beyond in protecting RNSP’s natural resources.
“My entire career has built to this crescendo—leading Save the Redwoods League,” says Mietz. “I’m honored and thrilled to carry forward the League’s mission to protect and restore these extraordinary redwood forests for future generations. Building on more than a century of conservation leadership, I’m excited to bring innovative and entrepreneurial approaches to meet today’s challenges, seize new opportunities, and inspire a new generation of forest stewards to help revive the redwood range.”
