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The National Park Service announced that it finalized a Day Use Visitor Access Plan for Rocky Mountain National Park. The plan is intended to protect park resources, maintain positive visitor experiences, promote safety and supports the park’s ability to maintain daily operations.
The plan is similar to previous pilot programs and establishes two timed-entry reservation systems from late-May through mid-October. One reservation system is for the Bear Lake Road Corridor and the other for the rest of the park. According to the press release, the park has been successful with the reservation systems spreading visitor use out throughout the park.
Rocky Mountain National Park has experienced a 44% increase in visitation from 2012 to 2019. In 2021, the park received 4.4 million visits. Even after a timed-entry reservation system was put into place, the park still had millions of visitors a year.
In response to the rapid growth in day use visitation, the park has seen degraded natural and cultural resources, decreased quality of the visitor experience and increased visitor and staff safety concerns. These factors have created a heavy strain on the park’s facilities and its ability to perform daily operations.
The approval of the plan is the result of extensive planning, public engagement and managed access pilots that began in 2016.
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