Rocky Mountain National Park Gets A New Boss

Photo: Darla Sidles, New Superintendent At Rocky Mountain National Park
Darla Sidles will be the new superintendent at Rocky Mountain National Park.

The National Park Service says Darla Sidles will begin her new assignment on Aug. 7. Her appointment was announced Monday.

“I am very excited and honored. As a child, Rocky Mountain National Park was the only national park I ever visited with my family,” said Sidles, a 26-year NPS employee, in a statement. “It had a profound impact on me then, and I am certain that park visitors today share the sense of awe. I look forward to working with the park staff and our partners to engage new stewards who will help care for Rocky for generations to come.”

Sidles is a 26-year Park Service employee who previously was deputy superintendent of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. Before that she served at Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument in Arizona as superintendent and assistant monument manager.

Sidles will take over leadership at Rocky Mountain from acting Superintendent Ben Bobowski, the park's chief of resource stewardship.

Bobowski has overseen park operations since October 2015, when longtime Superintendent Vaughn Baker retired after 42 years with the Park Service.