Former Superintendent of Rocky Mountain National Park Darla Sidles’ first exposure to the park came as a 9-year-old traveling with her family to their first National Park Service experience. After more than three decades of a rewarding career with the NPS, she came full circle back to Rocky and completed her federal service in Colorado in 2023.

Darla began her federal career as a Student Conservation Association volunteer in the North Cascade mountains of Washington State. She worked summers as a U.S. Forest Service wilderness ranger while obtaining her business degree at the University of Texas at Arlington, and then completed graduate school at Western Washington University.

Darla’s 37-year career spanned numerous national parks and sites across the country including Arches and Zion in Utah; Big Bend in Texas; Denali in Alaska; NPS headquarters in Washington, D.C.; Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument and Saguaro National Park in Arizona; Independence National Historic Park in Philadelphia; Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California; and, finally, the last seven years at Rocky. She is passionate about parks, their resources, and the people who enjoy them.

Although Darla and her husband reside primarily in Arizona now, Darla returns to the Rockies regularly and keeps the park and its communities firmly in her heart.