National Park News | Biden Proposes NPS Budget, Employee Housing Crisis, & More

The National Park Service announced that a total of 325.

5 million recreation visits took place across the park system in 2023, an increase of 13 million or 4% over 2022.

. Many of those visits were in the traditional off-season. Park Service. data shows more visits in spring and fall than in years past. And 20 parks, many of them less well-known, broke visitation records in 2023..

Of the 429 parks in the National Park System, 400 parks counted visitors in 2023.

. There are a few units that don't even have a visitor center or staff on site, so that's why there are a handful that don't report. Still, five national park sites began reporting for the first time in 2023.. As the park system grows, obviously the number of potential visitors grows. We all know that park visitation has been very high for a while now, and some are borderline overrun with visitors.

But 2023's visitation numbers, while still the highest since COVID hit in 2020, are slightly down from the record highs set in 2016,, as well as both 2017 and 2019.

. The 20 parks that broke visitation records in 2023 include Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, Congaree National Park, Dry Tortugas, Glacier Bay, Glen Canyon Recreation Area, Joshua Tree, Klondike, Gold Rush National Historical Park, and the Lincoln Memorial. Many of the others had only recently joined the park system, so it makes sense that they broke records. Natural disasters and increasingly severe weather events affected visitation at some parks, however, and many believe that park visitation would have been higher last year without the extreme summer heat in many places, several large wildland fires, along with storms and other natural disasters like floods and landslides, that required a number of parks to close for periods of time in 2023. For instance, Death Valley National Park was entirely closed from August 20th until October 15th due to flood damage.

You might also be surprised to hear that the number of nights booked at National Park campgrounds has remained shockingly consistent since 2016, for both tents and RVs, which the Park Service does track separately. About 2.5 million RV nights have been booked at National Park Service-run campgrounds each of the last eight years, except for 2020, which, of course, is an anomaly, since many parks were closed for a period of time at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. The Biden-Harris Administration submitted to Congress on March 11th the President's federal budget proposal, including a $3.57 billion budget request for the National Park Service, a modest increase from the $3.2 billion that the National Park Service regularly gets. Quote, this request speaks to the heart of what the National Park Service does every day, ensuring Americans and visitors from around the world are able to benefit from the resources we protect while working within the budget constraints we face today, said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. The budget addresses critical challenges like supporting a strong workforce, strengthening climate resilience in parks and communities, sharing the complete story of America, and ensuring access to parks for generations to come.

Funding increases in the fiscal year 2025 budget request provide for federal employee pay requirements and critical capacity and support for law enforcement. It also supports increased funding for regular maintenance, which the Park Service says is essential in preventing future, more expensive deferred maintenance costs. Critically, the proposal invests more than $100 million in housing needs for NPS employees across multiple fund sources. Housing for employees in and near national parks is increasingly scarce and expensive, reflecting a trend impacting communities across the country, creating long commutes and making it difficult for the National Park Service to recruit and retain employees. It's really the Airbnb effect.

Gateway communities like Springdale, Utah, Jackson, Wyoming, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee are very difficult for recruitment, since much of the rental housing in town has become vacation rentals. Some of those housing needs are more immediate than the budget process will allow. For instance, at Yellowstone, where some employee housing was swept away in the big flooding incident. in June of 2022, the National Park Foundation and the National Park Service have worked together to secure a $40 million gift from anonymous donors to expand and improve NPS employee housing at Yellowstone. The money will fund more than 70 new housing units to address the critical employee housing shortage at the park.

Work on the new units is set to begin later this year. Yellowstone has also announced a new bear management area in Hayden Valley, which will prohibit off-trail activity July 15th to September 15th. The new 16,453-acre area is located on the west side of the Grand Loop Road in Hayden Valley, in the central part of the park. Mary Mountain Trail will remain open for recreational travel. However, off-trail travel will not be allowed during the summer.

Hayden Valley provides prime habitat for grizzly bears, especially during the summer, when high concentrations of bears can be found scavenging on bison carcasses. Park biologists have observed as many as 23 individual grizzly bears on a single bison carcass. Since 1970, eight of the last 10 grizzly bear-inflicted human injuries from bites to fatalities in Hayden Valley occurred in the area that will be under the Hayden Valley Bear Management Area. Yellowstone has also decommissioned the 20,600-acre Firehole Bear Management Area located in the west side of the park due to fewer carcasses and wildlife conflicts. By decommissioning the whole Firehole BMA, the public will have access to Midway, Geyser Basin, Overlook, Ferry Falls, and Mystic Falls trails, which were previously closed to all recreational access between March 10th and the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.

On March 3rd, visitors skiing on the Specimen Ridge Trail in the north-central part of the park observed the first grizzly bear of 2024.

. Male grizzlies come out of hibernation in early March. Females with cubs emerge in April and early May. When bears emerge from hibernation, they look for food and often feed on elk and bison that died over the winter. Of course, all of Yellowstone National Park is bear country, from the deepest backcountry to the boardwalks around Old Faithful.

The park recommends carrying bear spray, knowing how to use it, and making sure it's accessible. You should also hike or ski in groups of three or more, stay on maintained trails, and make noise. Avoid hiking at dusk, dawn, or night. Do not run if you encounter a bear. They're like dogs.

You pretty much are guaranteed to get chased, and they're much faster than you. Stay 100 yards away from black and grizzly bears, it's the law, and use binoculars or a telephoto lens to get a closer look. Store food, garbage, barbecue, grills, and other attractions in hard-sighted vehicles or bear-proof food storage boxes, and report bear sightings and encounters to a park ranger immediately. Ah, you hear that? The sound of a crackling fire.

But this isn't just any old campfire. This is a smokeless solo stove fire pit. How can you tell? Well, you don't hear any coughing, hand wafting, or people complaining about smoke. in their eyes.

All you can hear are logs turning to coals as the night sky becomes a cosmic canvas. With Bonfire by Solo Stove, you get a fire pit that's portable, burns smoke off before it ever leaves the pit, and is backed by a lifetime warranty. Use promo code PARKS20OFF to get $20 off your next purchase of 200 or more at solostove.com. That's code PARKS20OFF.

Could this be the new way that folks with annual passes can skip the entry lines to get into national parks? Voluntary automated gate transponders are available for purchase at Rocky Mountain National Park for annual and lifetime pass holders, including passes just for the park and for people holding nationwide America the Beautiful passes. There's currently a transponder lane at Beaver Meadows entrance, and a new transponder lane is being constructed at the Fall River entrance. The lane at the Grand Lake entrance is being reconstructed after it was destroyed in the East Troublesome Fire. The transponder is a small credit card-sized device, a sticker really, that's attached to the vehicle's window.

You do have to pay $15 to get one, and you have to renew it every year for $5, but this could save folks, especially locals, a lot of time getting into a busy park like Rocky Mountain. When using a transponder in the park, visitors must have their passes with them as well, and the transponders are available for purchase at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center during certain days and times, which you can find on the website. Of course, Rocky Mountain is one of the few parks that now has a time-to-entry reservation program, so the transponder lanes will be closed from 9 to 2 every day when the time-to-entry reservation system is in effect May 24th to October 15th. 20 years ago, Rocky Mountain National Park constructed a fast pass lane at the Beaver Meadows entrance, and in 2011, an additional fast pass lane was installed at the Grand Lake entrance. Rocky Mountain was one of the only national parks with fast pass lanes for visitors.

Those who purchased an annual park pass or lifetime pass were able to use their pass to operate the automated gate. However, in 2019, the National Park Service modified the format of annual and lifetime passes. The new national passes were not compatible with the park's fast pass gate system technology, and the fast pass gate has not been operational for the last few years, so that's the reasoning for the window transponders now. Wouldn't it be great if you could use something like this to get in any of the busy parks across the nation if you have an annual pass? The riverboats at Gateway Arch National Park officially opened for the 2024 season on Thursday, March 7th, with daily St.

Louis Riverfront cruises narrated by either the boat captain or a National Park Service ranger. The one-hour riverfront cruise explores the history of downtown St. Louis, from its landmarks and architecture to the river's role, both past and present. It's the 60th season of riverboat tours that started back when the arch was constructed. The popular Skyline Dinner Cruise returns on March 21st, 2024, and the Paddlewheel Cafe, St.

Louis' only waterfront dining destination, opens to the public on Friday, April 5th. Many of us remember the days of the floating McDonald's that operated down in front of the arch from 1980 to 2000,, and then it sat there, creepily, decaying, for years after. There was also riverboat gambling. The park has come a long way. If you're one of those folks that doesn't think this should be a national park, I'd like to encourage you to give it another shot.

St. Louis has truly made spectacular improvements on the riverfront, broadening the green space into a true park and linking the arch with the old courthouse and with downtown. It's a wonderful place to contemplate the history and impact of westward expansion. This is where the Lewis and Clark expeditions set out. There's a lot of Mississippi River history.

And the old courthouse, which is just as much of a centerpiece as the Gateway Arch, is where the Dred Scott case was heard, one of the most important cases ever tried in the United States. Dred and Harriet Scott took their future into their own hands back in 1846 and came to the old courthouse to seek freedom from enslavement. Dred Scott was about 50 years old at the time. He was born into enslavement in Virginia around 1799 as property of the Peter Blow family. The Blow family moved to St.

Louis in 1830, taking Scott with them and soon sold him. due to the family's financial problems. Dr. John Emerson, a military surgeon stationed at Jefferson Barracks, purchased Scott, and Scott accompanied him to post in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, where slavery had been prohibited by the Missouri Compromise of 1820.. Scott married Harriet Robinson, also enslaved.

They had two children. And in 1842, the Scotts returned with Dr. and Mrs. Emerson to St. Louis, where Dr.

Emerson died the following year. Mrs. Emerson hired out Dred, Harriet, and the Scott children to work for other families, keeping the majority of their wages. On April 6, 1846, Dred Scott and his wife Harriet filed suit against Irene Emerson for their freedom. Scott sued for his freedom on the grounds that he had once lived in a free territory.

In the past, Missouri courts supported the doctrine of once free, always free. Because Scott lived under a system where it was illegal to teach an enslaved person to read or write, he was illiterate. And because his earnings were passed to Mrs. Emerson, he had no funds. The Blow family, Dred's original owners, backed him financially.

Dred and Harriet Scott and 300 other enslaved people found the courage to come to the old courthouse seeking freedom. The Scott case made it to the Supreme Court, who, in what is considered the worst ruling ever made by the court, judged that the Missouri Compromise was void and that no African Americans at all were entitled to citizenship, a decision that hastened the brewing Civil War. The old courthouse is currently closed and under renovation as the final stage of the $380 million City Arch River Project, the largest public-private partnership in the history of the National Park Service. Gateway Arch may not be what you think of when you think of a national park, but it is, indeed, a park for the nation. Thanks so much for being here.

We'll see you on the next one. Bye, everybody.