December 11, 1916, without any state funds (The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a major private donor). In 1917, at the start of official American involvement in World War I, he was given the positions of Forestry Board secretary, Indiana State Parks Committee director, and Military Secretary to the Governor, and made a Colonel; he would forever be called "Colonel Lieber". These 1917 appointments were all done by governor James P. Goodrich. These were not easy decisions for the governor, due to World War I fueling anti-German sentiment in Indiana, and Lieber was not only German, but he had three brothers who were colonels in the German army. Lieber convinced Goodrich, the new governor and close friend, to create a Department of Conservation to unite all the various state groups that were involved in various natural causes; the department was stopped from forming by the Democratic legislature in 1917, but the new Republican one of 1919 created it. As the Conservation Commission Chairman until 1933, he saw the creation of ten state parks and five state memorials. Little state money was used; Lieber had a knack for inspiring private citizens to obtain money to acquire park areas that would later be turned over for state park use. Attendance at Indiana state parks rose to 623,000 in 1932, up from 33,000 in 1919. In 1934, despite the lack of people and wealth compared to other states, it was rated as one of the three best state park systems by the National Park Service. Lieber was increasingly asked to help in national endeavors. Indiana's park system, thanks to him, became a model for the rest of the United States. In 1921, Lieber and Stephen Mather organized the first nationwide gathering of state park workers, which met at Turkey Run. Although a Republican, politics was never a pressing concern for him; he often turned down offers for jobs in Washington, D.C. But in 1933 the new Democratic governor, Paul V. McNutt, decided to dissolve the Conservation Commission, and effectively demoted Lieber to Division of State Parks and Lands and Waters Director; Lieber resigned in response on July 15, 1933. He would serve as an adviser to different sections of the National Park Service and led the National Conference on State Parks. Lieber died in 1944 while staying at McCormick's Creek's Canyon Inn. His ashes, along with those of his wife Emma, are buried at