Dennis Vásquez serves as Deputy Director of the City of Albuquerque’s Parks and Recreation Department. He brings a wealth of experience in managing parks at the federal and state level and in managing large programs for the National Park Service (NPS). After working as a park ranger in some of the country’s most outstanding national parks, including Yosemite, Joshua Tree, Big Bend, and Grand Canyon, he served as Park Superintendent at White Sands National Park, Bandelier National Monument, Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, and Guadalupe Mountains National Park. He ended his NPS career as Superintendent at Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque. Dennis has also served as Chief of Operations for the New Mexico State Parks Division.

Dennis worked in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior as Program Manager for a federal commission established to study the creation of a national museum of the American Latino. He led the commission in developing a feasibility study and plan for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino. He holds a BS in Biological Sciences from the University of Texas at El Paso.

For the Spring 2023 issue, Dennis recommended National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Jonathan Alderfer and Jon Dunn, National Geographic, 2017, 592 pages.

For the Winter 2022-2023 issue, Dennis recommended Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard by Douglas W. Tallamy, Timber Press, 2020, 256 pages.