Although he had grown up hearing the names of many different national park monuments, member of the Hopi tribe Lloyd Masayumptewa (Piivayouma, his Hopi name) had never visited many of them until he was an adult. “The names of these places stuck with me growing up,” he says. When he finally visited these places in person, “for me, I was in awe in the presence of something that was unique to me, my culture, my people and the stories behind it, which nobody will really truly understand besides those that are associated or affiliated to these places. So that just captured me.” Lloyd is the superintendent of Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments in Arizona. His position was made permanent in July of 2021. In his job, his main responsibility is to take care of the safety and welfare of his employees. He has more than two decades of experience working with the National Park Service. He took an interesting path to end up at the Park Service. He worked in Phoenix as an electronic technician for 11 years and wanted to escape big city life. So he moved back to Northern Arizona and eventually started taking classes at a community college. One of those classes was anthropology. He grew to love anthropology and archeology and enrolled as a student at Northern Arizona University (NAU). After earning his master’s degree from NAU in 2001, Lloyd started working as a National Park Service archeologist. His former positions include deputy superintendent for the Southern Four Corners Group of parks, which include Navajo and Canyon de Chelly National Monuments and Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, and ruins preservation and archeology program manager at many Flagstaff-area national monuments. He currently resides in Rimrock, and says he doesn’t have a favorite monument. “Every one of these ancestral sites are unique in their own way,” he says. “Come and visit the parks.” In this Q&A, discover what his job is like, his personal connection to his work and why he feels you should visit. Visit nps.gov for more.
Lloyd Masayumptewa
What’s it like working at the monuments?
The Four Corners area, they don’t get as much visitation as these parks down here. And so in particular, the Castle, I was just blown away by the number of people coming there. And I think a lot of it had to do also with people being cooped up for an entire year added to the flow of people coming in 2021. And that was one of the most amazing things that I’ve seen. I mean, cars back up all the way up the road and having to turn some of the bigger vehicles with trailers around because we couldn’t accommodate them, unfortunately … But the other thing that correlates with that, as well as the kind of revenue that the park gets because of the entrance fees, and the things that the park is able to utilize from that. It’s really amazing.
What’s it like having your personal background and working a job like this?
It’s somewhat difficult. We’re basically selling a culture. And that’s not something that I like to do, but it’s part of society these days. But I think if we do provide appropriate story and history, that connection part, which is kind of been absent, that’ll help me out maybe in an emotional way. I think that part is really important because we still revere these places as, I hate to use the word “sacred,” but they’re special places to us. People going through the hardships that they went through … compared to how we live these days, it was probably difficult at times. Without their struggles, and their presence in maintaining their life, we wouldn’t exist. Just honoring that and making people aware of it is always one of the things that’s key for me.
Why should people consider vising either Tuzigoot or Montezuma?
To get a sense of the history of the area and also the people that are tied to it. Those are two key things.
