Three National Parks Drop Reservations

- Timed entry reservations were a recent concept, with most systems rolling out in the last decade to manage overcrowding. Yosemite initiated a pilot reservation program in 2020, Glacier in 2021, and Arches in 2022. - The reservation systems were largely considered successful at reducing congestion, improving visitor experience, and protecting park resources. In 2021, before reservations, the entrance gate at Arches was forced to close 118 times during the summer due to overflowing parking lots and traffic backups. - At Arches, a university study during the first year of timed entry found that 84% of visitors supported the reservation system. However, some Utah officials raised concerns about a potential drop in visitor spending in communities near the park. - In place of reservations, the parks will use real-time traffic management, such as temporary diversions when parking lots fill, and will deploy additional seasonal staff to high-traffic areas. - The decision to end reservations has been met with criticism from conservation groups. The National Parks Conservation Association called the move a choice of "chaos over conservation" that ignores years of unsustainable visitation patterns. - Rocky Mountain National Park will continue to use its timed-entry reservation system during peak months, a system it has had in place for several years. - In 2024, the National Park Service recorded a record-high 331.9 million recreation visits across all its sites. That same year, Yosemite was the sixth-most-visited national park with over 4.1 million visitors, while Glacier ranked tenth with over 3.2 million. - Prior to the reservation system, visitation to Arches National Park grew by 74% between 2011 and 2021, reaching 1.8 million visitors annually.