MOOSE, Wyo. (AP) - A 26-year National Park Service veteran has been named Grand Teton National Park's new chief ranger.

Andy Fisher, the park's south district ranger for the last year, began his career as a seasonal heavy truck and equipment operator in Yellowstone National Park, according to Grand Teton officials.

He was a seasonal ranger in the Old Faithful and Mammoth districts from 1982-1986, and in 1986 became a dispatcher, his first permanent park job.

Fisher transferred to Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks in 1990 and was an acting district ranger in Kings Canyon. In 1993, he went to Mount Rushmore National Memorial, where he was assistant chief ranger for five-and-a-half years.

From 1998 until his move to Grand Teton in 2003, Fisher was a district ranger at Cape Cod National Seashore.

He holds a bachelor's degree from Kent State University.

AP-WS-06-03-04 0944EDT