Sherma Bierhaus

First female superintendent of Arches National Park and Timpanogos Cave National Monument

NPS, TICA 4812

Quick Facts

Significance:

The first female superintendent of Arches National Park and of Timpanogos Cave National Monument; first female superintendent in the National Park Service; first female superintendent in the Rocky Mountain Region.

Date of Birth:

August 7, 1935

Date of Death:

December 26, 2011

Inspired by her father’s work as a park ranger, and being an avid outdoor enthusiast and conservationist, Sherma Bierhaus pursued a career with the National Park Service. Little did she know that she would be paving the way for generations of women behind her.  

While she was enrolled in a management program, she had the opportunity to act as the superintendent of Timpanogos Cave National Monument. This was the first time that a female acted in this role. She worked at Timpanogos from 1974 until 1982, when she was transferred to Arches National Park where she stayed until 1986. Yet again she set a record as the first female superintendent of a national park. 

Even as a child, she had aspirations to become a superintendent: 

“I told him, ‘Someday I'm going to be a superintendent of a park.’ He just laughed, he said, ‘You don't know what you're talking about.’ I said, ‘Yes I do. That's what I'm going to do someday.’ At the time it was such a male oriented agency. The superintendent’s secretaries were females, but even the clerks were male.

Right everybody was male. This was not an organization for females by any means. I know that that's what my dad was thinking. He always told us we could do what we chose to do or made our minds up to do. He wasn't putting me down for thinking that way, but knowing the realities of the agency, he didn't think that it could ever happen. (...) He didn't think that the possibility of a woman becoming a superintendent was very feasible.”

Despite the challenges, Sherma pushed forward with her goals, and proved that women could hold important positions within the National Park Service. Without her tenacity, women’s roles in park management would be very different. She paved the way for generations of women behind her, and inspired others to chase their dreams and pursue careers with the National Park Service.

Resources: Timpanogos Cave National Monument Oral History Project