NPS - National Park Service

10/15/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/15/2024 12:41

New superintendent selected for Pipe Spring National Monument

News Release Date:
October 15, 2024

FREDONIA, Ariz. - The National Park Service (NPS) has selected Curlinda Blacksheep, Ed.D., as superintendent of Pipe Spring National Monument. She will begin her assignment on October 20.
"Dr. Blacksheep has served in a number of roles across the National Park Service, many of which have been in Arizona" said Zion National Park Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh, who also oversees Pipe Spring and Cedar Breaks national monuments. "She has strong ties to the region and appreciation for Indigenous peoples' cultural connections with the area. We look forward to her leading the national monument into the future."
Blacksheep currently serves as the NPS Fundamentals training instructor specialist at the National Park Service Horace Albright Training Center. She began her NPS career working at Navajo National Monument. She has also worked at Devils Tower National Monument; Glen Canyon National Recreation Areaand Rainbow Bridge National Monument; and in a temporary assignment at Zion National Park.
"I am blessed and honored to work in a sacred and beautiful place with a small, but mighty national park that focuses on stories, culture, and connection of indigenous people at its center with the continued legacy of partnerships with community," said Blacksheep. "I look forward to, and am grateful for, this opportunity allowing me to support the continued care and stewardship of a reverent place."

Blacksheep holds a bachelor's degree in enterprise in society-business administration with a minor in parks recreation and management, a master's degree in educational leadership, and a doctorate in education that focused on heritage leadership for sustainability, social justice, and participatory culture.
Blacksheep will move to the area with her husband and four children. She was born and raised on the Diné Nation and is of the Living Arrow Bitterwater Clan and born for the Base of the Mountain, Towering House People Clan.