New ranger selected to lead Coconino NF’s Red Rock Ranger District

Courtesy photo.

SEDONA — A new lead ranger for the Red Rock Ranger District has been selected and will begin Aug. 25.

“I’m so excited to announce that our own Alex Schleuter has been selected as the permanent district ranger for the Red Rock Ranger District,” said Coconino National Forest Supervisor Aaron Mayville. “Most of you have gotten to know Alex as the deputy district ranger, but he has been acting in the lead ranger role for the past six months and has done a stellar job!”

Schlueter grew up in Minnesota and found his first Forest Service job on Superior National Forest as a wilderness ranger paddling the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Schlueter received his Bachelor of Science degree in Recreation Resource Management and a Master of Science in Natural Resources Science and Management from the University of Minnesota.

He has worked in the Washington Office, Monongahela National Forest, Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, Salmon-Challis National Forest, and Prescott National Forest.

Schlueter has served as the deputy district ranger on the Red Rock Ranger District since 2021 and is excited to be committed to the area long term, having hiked about half the trails on the district and hoping to finish them all.

He replaces Amy Tinderholt, who served as the lead ranger on the district from 2019 to 2024 and went on to serve as a recreation planner in the Washington Office.

 

The Red Rock Ranger District is comprised of approximately 487,000 acres and encompasses the Sedona area and its colorful collection of buttes, pinnacles, mesas and canyons surrounding the red rock vistas.