Page 14 - Flathead Beacon // 3.12.14

14 | MARCH 12, 2014 NEWS FLATHEADBEACON.COM

Government Shutdown Blamed for Dip in National Park Visits

New report: visitation at
Top 10 most visited National Parks in 2013
national parks drops 3
percent in 2013
RANK
SITE VISITORS

Great Smoky Mountains National Park 9,354,695

By BEACON STAFF
Grand Canyon National Park 4,564,840
Yosemite National Park
3,691,191
The 16-day government shutdown in
October was responsible for an overall Yellowstone National Park
3,188,030
3 percent drop in visitors to America’s Olympic National Park
3,085,340
national parks in 2013, according to a re-
Rocky Mountain National Park 2,991,141
port released March 10 by the National
Park Service.
Zion National Park
2,807,387
The oicial number of recreation- Grand Teton National Park 2,688,794
al visits to national parks in 2013 was
273,630,895 — 9.1 million fewer visits Acadia National Park
2,254,922
than the 2012 igure. The decrease was
due in large part to the lapse in federal Glacier National Park 2,190,374
appropriations, which shuttered nation- SOURCE: US DEPT. OF THE INTERIOR

al parks at the beginning of October, ac-
cording to the report.
lion visitors supporting 6,525 jobs, ac-
In addition to derailing the vacation cording to the report.
plans of millions of Americans, gateway Glacier National Park ranger Kathy Dodd secures a sign to a barricade indicating a park closure on Oct. The report outlined the number of
communities near the parks were dealt 1, 2013. BEACON FILE PHOTO
visits and the economic impact at the
an economic blow.
country’s 400-plus sites in the national tionally, Secretary of the Interior Sally the park, the report says, compared to
“These closures had a real impact on park system, which draw visitors from Jewell said.
2,190,374 visitors last year.

local businesses and communities that around the world and serve as a pow- “Let’s hope we never have to go there The National Park Service recently
rely on the national parks as important erful economic driver for surrounding again,” she told reporters during a news released a separate report showing that
drivers for their local economies,” Na- communities.
teleconference from the National Park visitors to national parks generated
tional Park Service Director Jonathan “Shutting down the parks during Service’s most visited site, Great Smoky $26.75 billion in economic activity and
Jarvis said in a statement.
that time was a real challenge to com- Mountains in Tennessee.
supported 243,000 jobs in 2012. Mon-
The shutdown, sparked by a budget munities that depended on those park In 2012, Glacier National Park ac- tana’s ive national park sites yielded
dispute in Washington, D.C., cost a half- visitors,” Jewell said.
counted for 2.2 million visitors and more than $403 million in economic
billion dollars in visitor spending na-
[email protected]
$172 million spent in communities near
beneits in 2012, with more than 4.4 mil-

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