Darla Sidles, superintendent of Saguaro National Park for the past seven years, will leave that post to accept a position as superintendent of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.
A board member with the Friends of Saguaro National Park described Sidles as a “superb superintendent.”
“It’s a great loss for Saguaro, but it’s a great opportunity for Rocky Mountain Park,” said Kevin Dahl, a member of the Friends board and Arizona program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association.
Sidles, 52, said she is looking forward to her new role at one of the National Parks system’s most visited sites — but added that she will miss Tucson and Saguaro Park.
“Rocky is an amazingly beautiful park with incredible landscapes, natural and cultural resources, staff, and partners,” she said. “It’s the fifth-most-visited national park in the system, and so I am truly honored to have been chosen for the position. I am excited to go there and embrace new challenges, although simultaneously sad to leave here.”
Rocky Mountain Park, with more than 4 million visitors last year, attracts more than four times as many visitors as Saguaro Park.
Of Tucson and Saguaro Park, Sidles said, “I love this place, and it’s going to be difficult to leave. This has been my third time to live in Tucson over the past 30 years, and I seem to keep coming back. It’s such a unique place due to Saguaro’s proximity to the city — remote wilderness so close to a thriving urban area. It’s really hard to beat that.
“The saguaros, the park staff, the community — all have had an incredibly positive impact on me, and I hope that I have been of service during my time here as well.”
Sidles said she expects to move to Colorado in early August.
She said in an email to members of the Friends board that she doesn’t yet know who will take over as acting superintendent of Saguaro Park when she departs.
