Voyageurs National Park has a new boss — and plenty of challenges

Minnesota’s single national park has a new boss. Jennifer Onufer, a veteran federal lands employee, began her new position last week at Voyageurs National Park, headquartered in International Falls. Onufer’s arrival marks a new era for Voyageurs, which has been without a superintendent for nearly a year and a half. Though lightly visited compared with other, better-known national parks, it is one of the jewels of Minnesota’s border country, with massive lakes and hundreds of islands. The park had about 206,300 visits in 2025. While her most recent work was in northern California, Onufer said Minnesota “is a bit like coming home” after growing up in northern New York state. Advertisement “I am pleased to be returning to the northern border,” she added in an email to the Minnesota Star Tribune. Her appointment also is a reminder of recent challenges at the park and within the National Park Service (NPS) that runs it. Key park partners say they are hoping Onufer’s hiring signals stability. They witnessed Trump Administration-led cuts beginning in 2025, including firings and hiring freezes that affected park staff and colleagues at NPS units across the country. The nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) said the NPS had 12,600 full-time employees by the end of 2025, or a 24% decline from the beginning of the year.