Berglind Sigmundsdóttir steps down

Today, Wednesday May 31st 2023, Berglind Sigmundsdóttir is stepping down as manager of Katla Geopark. Because of this, the geopark wants to go over some of her excellent work on behalf of the geopark.

Berglind started working for the geopark in 2017, as a project manager, but took over as manager in 2018 and she has been the manager of the geopark since then. Among her first tasks as project manager was to set up a geological exhibition about the area within Katla Geopark, which is on display in Kötlusetur (Katla Center) in Vík, as well as helping with the UNESCO revalidation of the geopark that same year. The geopark then received a green card, which meant that it retained its UNESCO status for four more years, and she also led the geopark through the revalidation in 2021 where the geopark received a green card once again. Berglind has also managed and implemented a large number of projects for the geopark, including for example the Katla Conference in 2018 which was held on in honor of the 100th anniversary of the last eruption in Katla, helped with the translation of the destination management plan for Katla Geopark, the opening and management of the visitor center of Katla Geopark at Þorvaldseyri, overseeing the annual Katla Geopark Week, written several articles for the geopark, worked on the first book published by the Geopark, the book Undur yfir dundu which was written by Már Jónsson, and has attending meetings on behalf of the geopark both domestically and abroad. In addition, the geopark has received a number of grants during her tenure, including a 36 million ISK grant from the Tourist Site Protection Fund for a new viewpoint at Þorvaldseyri and an 8 million ISK grant from the Association of Municipalities in South Iceland for a branding project for the geopark. She has also managed and taken part in several foreign projects in which the geopark has been involved, including the Interreg-NPA Drifting Apart project, the Horizon 2020 Ruritage project, the Nordplus Geoheritage project with FAS, and the NORA GEOfood project.

It is clear that Katla Geopark has grown in strength during recent years under Berglind's leadership and she leaves the geopark in good order. She will be greatly missed, and the geopark would like to thank Berglind for her excellent work and wishes her all well for the future.