Overall, the NPS (379 units) saw a 2.9% increase in visitation from 2018 to 2019. The 62 National Park units saw an increase of 3.8%. This includes two newly-designated National Parks (Indiana Dunes and White Sands) and a government shutdown that extended from December 2018 into of January 2019.
In my post from last year, I highlighted the impacts of certain climate events, including floods, forest fires, and hurricanes. This year, Yosemite, Olympic, and Glacier all bounced back from their decreased visitation in 2018 (due to forest fires and smoke). Virgin Islands continued to rebuild after hurricanes in 2017 and 2018 and saw a steady upswing in visitation by the end of 2019.
The top 10 most visited national parks remained the same, as they have since 2014:
This year, I want to highlight the significant increases in visitation that have happened over the last decade, from 2010 to 2019. Notably, Instagram was launched in late 2010, and it has impacted how people visit our national parks in both good and bad ways.
Since 10 years ago, NPS visitation (379 units) has increased by over 16%, and National Park visitation (62 units) has increased by over 28%. To put these increases into perspective, the U.S. Census Bureau projects that the U.S. population has increased by 6.7% in the same time period.
Further, our most popular national parks have been bearing the brunt of this rapid increase in visitation. Some of these numbers are alarming:
- Joshua Tree: visitation increased by 108% (more than doubled)
- Bryce Canyon: 102%
- Death Valley: 77%
- Zion: 68%
- Arches: 64%
- Rocky Mountains: 58%
- Crater Lake: 57%
- Glacier: 39%
- Acadia: 37%
- Grand Canyon: 36%
To illustrate the relative speed of this increase, the following chart shows annual visitation at Joshua Tree National Park since 1941:
The next chart for Bryce Canyon National Park (since 1929) shows a similar pattern:
Part of this long-term increase was generated by the NPS when they launched their very successful "Find Your Park" campaign to celebrate their centennial in 2016. That year, annual visitation increased by over 9% from the previous year (I visited six national parks in 2016 and another six in 2017).
National Parks have gained unprecedented exposure and popularity on Instagram, and unfortunately, increased visitation at our national parks have come hand-in-hand with increased vandalism, theft, and other mistreatment of our public lands (and animals). Many parks have struggled to update their infrastructure to keep up with the increased demand. In the meantime, please do you part:
- Take only pictures; leave only footprints.
- Respect Mother Nature and her animals, both WILD and domesticated (fellow humans).
- No drones (this is a law).
- No selfies on cliffs (this is just common sense).
- And stay hydrated.
