Three bikers traveling through the Swan Lake area at Yellowstone National Park in the spring. As temperatures increase due to climate impacts, shoulder seasons in parks may allow for more warm-weather activities.
Photo credit: NPS / Jacob W. Frank.

By Sarah Rappaport Keener, Emily J. Wilkins, Wylie Carr, Samantha G. Winder, Julianne Reas, Daniela B. Daniele, and Spencer A. Wood.

Read the full paper here

Climate change is increasingly affecting our planet, leading to issues like droughts, floods, and rising temperatures. In the United States, these changes are having noticeable effects on national parks and the people who enjoy them. National Park Service staff across the United States are noticing a variety of ways that climate change is affecting visitor use at their parks, including limiting recreation access and affecting visitor health and safety.

We spoke to 63 park staff at 31 national parks to better understand how climate change is affecting visitor use at their parks. We analyzed these conversations to understand how staff perceive climate change affecting visitors at national parks, and what impacts staff are most worried about for the future.

Park staff noted that increasing temperatures are negatively affecting both staff and visitor safety at parks across the United States and resulting in more people visiting in the spring and fall than in the past. Drought and decreasing water availability are resulting in reduced recreational access for water-based activities like boating and fishing, severe weather and coastal hazards are damaging park infrastructure, and smoke is affecting visitor health and scenic views. Staff are particularly worried about intense wildfires and heatwaves in the future, which could lead to more emergency search and rescue situations. Staff at coastal parks are concerned about rising sea levels and stronger hurricanes, which could alter park landscapes forever and the way visitors experience national seashores.

Our research highlights ways park staff are already witnessing the effects of climate change on visitor use, including some impacts that have not been documented before (e.g., the prolonged effects from wildfire on visitor use – such as hazard trees and slope instability). Understanding how visitor use is changing is important to help park staff plan and prepare for the future. These findings emphasize that more research and planning on how to manage visitor experiences in light of climate change could help ensure that our national parks can continue to be enjoyed by future generations.