Chadron State Park Superintendent Dave Kinnamon is leaving after 6 years for a similar position at Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area in northeast Nebraska.

Nebraska Game and Parks parks division administrator Roger Kuhn says the opening at Chadron State Park has been posted on the agency’s website with an application deadline of August 7th. Kuhn expects the new superintendent to be hire this fall.

Kinnamon, a native of Seward, says he’s making the move to be closer to family. He took the Chadron State Park job in August 2007 in part to stay closer to his two sons, who were planning at the time to go to college in Colorado, but instead stayed in the Lincoln area because of career and military obligations.

Even though the job did keep Kinnamon and his wife Fawn a longer distance from their boys and other family members, he says they’s thoroughly enjoyed their time at Chadron State Park…adding that he’d love to just “pick this park up and move it back east.

That’s not only because of the beauty, but because of the visitors the park attracts. Kinnamon says behavior problems are so rare that he hasn’t written a citation at Chadron State Park and has had to evict only a handful for rowdiness.

A 35-year veteran of Nebraska Game and Parks, Kinnamon says he’ll be splitting his time between his current and new parks for the next 2 months…including helping winterize facility at Chadron State Park after the summer season ends Labor Day.

Lewis and Clark Lake on the Missouri is the second-largest in Nebraska and is a shared jurisdiction with South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks operating a recreation area on the north side, Nebraska Game and Parks on the south side, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates below the dam.

The Nebraska amenities include cabins, more than 150 paved campsites, convenience store, and a full-service marina. Kinnamon succeeds long-time superintendent Larry Joachimsen, who retired.