Dan R. Kunkle, executive director of the Wildlife Information Center in Slatington, has been selected to be the grand marshal of the 36th annual Lehighton Area Halloween Parade.

Kunkle, a lifelong resident of Franklin Township, has directed the center since 1998. In 2004, he left his position in the Science Department of Freedom High School, Bethlehem, to become the center’s fulltime director.

Under his guidance, one of the biggest accomplishments of the center has been the purchase of the 750 acres of property on the Lehigh Gap Kittatinny Ridge to create a community nature and environmental education center and to restore the acreage that was degraded by the pollution of the zinc smelters in Palmerton.