Lloyd Masayumptewa has officially been appointed superintendent of Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments.

Masayumptewa has been the acting superintendent of the parks since March and officially took over the role July 18.

“We are incredibly fortu­nate to have Lloyd working for the National Park Service,” National Park Service Regional Director Mike Reynolds said in a statement. “His leader­ship skills and passion to preserve and protect our nation’s public lands and cultural resources make him a great fit to serve both of these parks.”

Masayumptewa began working for NPS after receiving his master’s degree in 2001. During his 20-year career, Masayumptewa has served as the deputy superinten­dent for the Southern Four Corners Group of Parks, including Navajo and Canyon de Chelly National Monuments.

He has also held posi­tions as the superintendent of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, the cultural resources program manager for the Southern Four Corners Group, and the ruins preservation and archeology program manager at Wupatki, Sunset Crater Volcano and Walnut Canyon National Monument.

Masayumptewa first discovered a love of archeology while partici­pating in Northern Arizona University’s Student Career Employment Program while attending school, during which he visited a number of national monu­ments near Flagstaff, including many historical American Indian sites.

Masayumptewa is Hopi from the third mesa village of Orayvi, “Old Oraibi,” and is of the Water-Coyote clan.

His experience in the archaeological program at NAU was an eye-opening one for him as he was able to set foot on the very ancestral lands he’d heard stories about growing up.

“My grandparents told me about these places, and the elders talk about these places where our clans came from. When you’re a kid, you’re not told that these places still exist,” he said. “And so when I was able to go to these places that they talked about, I was just more or less mesmerized by the fact that these still existed and they were standing and it wasn’t just some kind of story that they were talking about.”

Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot were both built by the Sinagua, which are most closely affiliated as the ancestors of the modern Hopi.

Several other tribes also believe the Sinagua were their ancestors, including the Zuni.

The Sinagua left the Verde Valley around 1450 C.E. after inhabiting sites for about 700 years. The reason for their departure might have been because of new competiting tribes in the region or because of drought or a change in climate.

Masayumptewa has plans to grow the interpre­tive programs at both parks and change the way the stories of the lands are told, and how the tribes that came from the Sinagua are connected.

“I think in dealing with the Hopi tribe, in partic­ular, and how stories and the connections should be told is one of the things that we’ve kind of strug­gled with,” he said. “I feel that interpretation is a big component of any park setting, and I feel that that’s a bit lacking so I want to maybe restructure that a little bit so that there’s a little bit more interpre­tive services and a little bit more meet-and-greet out there with the visiting public that comes to these parks.”

Masayumptewa also wants to take a closer look at the parks’ planned future projects and determine which ones he approves of and if there are any he does not. One such project that he would like to see complete is the repairing of the well outlet and canal at Montezuma Well, addition­ally, fixing the sidewalk leading to the well.

But overall, Masayumptewa’s main goal is to continue his work in helping to preserve the legacy of his people and share the stories of their migration in the Southwest.

“It’s the idea of being able to preserve our history in a way, although we prefer that we just leave these places to go back to the earth naturally. But, I think after some thought that it’s a good educational moment for our people, our young kids, because they don’t understand where we came from, how we evolved and what we are now,” he said. “We can still reflect on those things that existed long ago.”