As visitor numbers to the world’s national parks continue to boom, it’s time to look at innovative solutions that can both protect and preserve. From Blue Mountains National Park in Australia to Arches in the US, new approaches prove that conservation without gatekeeping is possible.
It’s a warm spring morning just outside Grand Canyon National Park and the line of cars at the South Rim Entrance is already backed up to the town of Tusayan. The AM radio broadcast warns drivers to expect a two-hour wait time before entry—a peaceful escape into the solitude of nature seeming less and less likely, and more and more ironic.
Over in Australia, a local council is urging tourists to avoid visiting the popular seaside town of Seal Rocks, surrounded by Myall Lakes National Park, as the congestion in summer creates constant gridlock for the local community.
From Yellowstone’s founding as the world’s first national park in 1872, countries around the world quickly followed suit in protecting natural areas by setting aside land in the pursuit of both conservation and recreation. Thanks to the post-pandemic desire for social distancing, increased exposure from social media, and the allure of an affordable holiday in an increasingly expensive world, national parks are busier than ever. And it’s often the most popular parks that are taking the biggest slice of the visitor pie. In the US, 26 percent of all visits occurred in only eight parks, while in Australia, NSW National Parks have experienced visitation numbers rising 47 percent in the last 10 years.
National parks are having a moment and visitor numbers are sky-high. But what does that mean for local residents, wildlife, visitors and the parks themselves?
Sadly, increased park crowds have done permanent damage to both the environment and important cultural sites. Last year, visitors etched their names into ancient petroglyphs within Texas’ Big Bend National Park. The same year, California’s Redwood National Park had to take strict measures to protect their flora, implementing huge fines to hikers for getting too close to Hyperion, the world’s tallest known living tree—with shallow roots that are easily damaged by excessive foot traffic.
Hyperion was already in a closed area of the park, but disobedient trekkers have gone off-piste in an effort to view the tree up close, leading to trampled trails, discarded human waste, and increased litter. This reckless abandon of rules makes park management harder than ever, especially as many US National Parks are feeling the pressure of staff shortages.
Could technology help with this? Google thinks so. The tech giant unveiled updates to Google Maps this year to better help visitors locate attractions, campgrounds and trailheads within national parks. As these tasks have traditionally been performed by park staff, this new tech could free up the time of rangers to provide more educational programs or more frequently patrol fragile landscapes to help ensure their protection.
In addition to protecting natural resources, there’s also a need to protect local communities around national parks. Locals feel the squeeze as their town suffers from the economic implications that come from popularity.
“Much of our housing capital is sold to second home owners and turned into overnight rentals, creating a high cost for housing and a housing shortage that many consider a housing crisis,” says longtime resident of Moab, Utah, and Grand County Commission Member Mary McGann. “Tourism is a service-based industry that does not have high wages so many people who work in Moab can not afford to rent or buy a place to live.”
The reality is, there’s no ‘one size fits all’ answer to overcrowding and enthusiastic road trippers certainly aren’t going to stop coming.
Moab, which sits just outside Arches National Park (and kitty-corner from Canyonlands National Park on the Colorado River), has felt the strain across all of its infrastructure in the past few years—not just in the housing market. “The three million visitors (to Moab) put a strain on our sewer, water system, and solid waste,” says McGann. “Grand County has the busiest Search and Rescue in the state. Our EMS district and Sheriff’s departments are as busy as the EMS and Sheriff departments in urban areas.”
Last year, attempts to control the overcrowding began with the implementation of a timed entry reservation system for Arches NP, similar to the reservation system utilized by Croatia’s Plitvice Lakes National Park. Reservations ensure the park can manage visitor numbers without overloading the surrounding infrastructure of Moab’s Grand County.
The driving force of change to national parks is multi-tiered—it’s coming from frustrated locals, park management and elected officials. But luckily, change is also often supported by park visitors themselves.
A Utah State University study shows that 84 percent of respondents viewed the timed entry system at Arches favorably and 89 percent were able to acquire a timed entry for their preferred dates. Yes, this means some of the spontaneity is taken out of national parks visits, but if it’s for the greater good, many visitors agree that planning ahead isn’t the worst thing.
In Australia, New South Wales National Parks are already adjusting their marketing to encourage travelers to visit midweek or outside of peak hours on weekends. With parks near the major cities of Sydney and Melbourne drawing huge crowds on summer weekends, crowd disbursement can give park staff more opportunities to provide much-needed trail maintenance, garbage removal, and the quality of life for locals is improved by lessening traffic.
Some national parks are also moving towards a co-management model, allowing land to be jointly managed by park directors and Indigenous owners of the land. All national parks belong to Traditional Owners, and by allowing substantial input from Indigenous groups, land management can be improved and wildlife populations can be better protected, even in crowded parks. Indigenous knowledge can also help assist popular parks with wildfire protection, provide cultural educational programs to visitors, and enforce better custodianship of sacred sites.
The best outcome for our beloved national parks will rest on increased park funding, innovative crowd management ideas, and individual responsibility.
Co-management in the US can be found in several parks already, including Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. In late 2021, Charles F. “Chuck” Sams III was sworn in as the first Native American National Park Service Director and has spoken of his commitment to increase co-management across the National Park Service.
Thinking outside the box, what other ideas could improve national park crowds? From Uber-style surge entry pricing to deter visitors in peak periods and asking guests not to geotag sensitive areas to boards showing real-time crowd numbers within busy areas of parks, Disneyland-style, only time will tell which techniques work best. But parks, local communities, and governments are tasked to keep experimenting so that the fragile ecosystems within parks can cope with the rapidly changing tourism landscape.
The reality is, there’s no ‘one size fits all’ answer to overcrowding, and enthusiastic road trippers certainly aren’t going to stop coming. “There is not a ‘best solution’—the solutions are multi-tiered,” says McGann.
The best outcome for our beloved national parks will rest on increased park funding, innovative crowd management ideas, and individual responsibility. We can all help save our parks through government advocacy, abiding by Leave No Trace ethics, volunteering to assist with park projects, and making sustainable choices when we visit. Together, we can help the next generation enjoy the parks we love so much ourselves.
Katie Dundas is an American freelance travel journalist and photographer based in Sydney, Australia. She’s happiest near water and loves diving, hiking, and adventures with her tiny pup. Her work can be found on BBC Travel, Fodor’s, scubadiving.com, Atlas Obscura, and TechRadar.
