William “Bill” Whitworth has been named the new Project Manager for the Corps of Engineers at Milford Lake.

Whitworth, a graduate of Fort Hays State University, said that he’s always been fond of Kansas.

“I really bonded with Kansas those 8 years that I was there; I enjoy the lifestyle, the recreational opportunities the state affords..it’s just something that I grew attached to, i don’t know what it is about the prairie but it has a real beauty of it’s own – and I’ve lived in most parts of the United States and I always knew I wanted to get back to that area,” said Whitworth.

During his time in Kansas, Whitworth earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree from Fort Hays State and “ironically” met RJ Harms, his predecessor while both worked as summer park rangers.

From his job as a summer park ranger, Whitworth has held many positions one of those was with a Corps of Engineers Research Lab in Illinois.

“I dealt with military land management and environment concerns with army training mostly and I was able to do some field work at Fort Riley from that position,” said Whitworth.

Whitworth currently works as Chief of Resource Management at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.

As for his duties at Milford Lake, Whitworth says he wants to continue the “successful program RJ Harms initiated”. “I want to work pretty closely with the lake stakeholders and figuring out those areas of overlap where the Corps has discretion to try to maximize the public recreational opportunities on the lake – the lake is a really great resource for the region and the state.”

Whitworth will begin work for the Corps of Engineers at Milford Lake in early December.