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TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — A 30-year veteran of the National Park Service will take over as leader of the Natchez Trace Parkway.

National Park Service acting Regional Director Pedro Ramos announced Thursday the appointment of Douglas “Doug” Neighbor as the new superintendent of Natchez Trace Parkway, beginning Aug. 15.

Neighbor will also oversee the Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site and Tupelo National Battlefield in northeast Mississippi.

The 444-mile (715-kilometer) parkway stretches from Natchez, Mississippi, to near Nashville, Tennessee, marking a key transportation route when the region was on the frontier of European settlement. The parkway is headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Since 2014, Neighbor has been superintendent of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, overseeing 119 known caves and a yearly budget of more than $5.4 million.

Earlier, Neighbor led the National Park of American Samoa, Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas and Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho. He was educated as a wildlife biologist.