BLM fills two key positions in Tucson | Environment

The Bureau of Land Management Tucson Field Office has filled two key positions in their management team, Assistant Field Manager and Manager of the Ironwood Forest National Monument.  The Ironwood Forest National Monument is a 129,000 acre parcel located west of Marana and is only a portion of the 600,000 acres managed by the Tucson office of BLM.

Claire Crow has been selected as the manager for the Ironwood Forest National Monument.  She is coming from a 14 year career at Zion National Park in Utah, and has an M.S. from the University of Arizona in wildlife conservation and management. She brings with her many years of experience in wildlife and fire management, having worked as a wildlife intern at several national parks and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Crow has served since 2007 as a wildlife manager at Zion, the Cedar Breaks National Monument and Pipe Springs National Monument.  She is also skilled in research having worked with the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and Hawk Watch International.  Crow’s first day of work will be November 5.

The Ironwood Forest NM Manager is not the only position that was filled by BLM, the second opening was Assistant Field Manager and that was taken over by Karen Simms, a long time Tucson Field Office employee. 

Simms has been the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area (NCA) ecosystem planner for the past nine years, as well as having worked in the NCA and Cienega watershed for 25 years as a wildlife biologist and land use planner. 

She has participated in the Sonoita Valley Planning Partnership (SVPP) since its beginnings in 1995.  It was through SVPP participation that Simms crafted the resource management plan for Las Cienegas, with the help of a variety of SVPP stakeholders.  Simms was also the lead on the team for the development of the Muleshoe Ranch Ecosystem Management Plant, as well as having served as both the Las Cienegas NCA manager and Ironwood Forest National Monument Manager.  She has an M.S. in wildlife biology from the University of Arizona, and currently lives in Tucson with her family