Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 4

[slc801]

I came across an article today about National Park visitation. I decided to pull some quick stats on the numbers of individuals visiting National Parks. I pulled the numbers for the 23 most popular parks, plus Canyonlands. I looked at average percent growth in visitation rates from 1980-2015. Utah had 5 of the top 7 parks in the highest growth in visitation. One of the other 7 is Cuyahoga, which had a huge increase in visitation in 80's and 90's but has steadily decreased since. So really Utah has 5 of the top 6. The other park that is growing in popularity at a rate similar to Utah's is Joshua Tree. I looked at Colorado to see if they have had a similar trend and to my surprise they haven't. In fact, one of their National Parks has steadily declined since the 1980s

In 2015, 3 of the 16 most popular National Parks in the US are found in Utah (Zion, Bryce, and Arches); Zion was the 6th most popular park in the US. No other state, not even California, can claim that (California has 3 in the top 20 most popular parks. California has the most National Parks of any state--9, nearly double the amount in Utah). In 1980, Zion, the most popular park in Utah, was only the 14th most popular in the US.

For those of you who don't like the increase in the number of people visiting the parks because you feel they are getting to crowded, luckily you still have Canyonlands, which is the largest park in Utah, and the least visited (although its visitation rate is increasing quicker than any other park in Utah). I am a sucker for Zion, but Canyonlands is making a strong run for my favorite national park in Utah. And you've got some other spectacular areas, like Cedar Breaks, Goblin Valley, and the whole San Rafael Swell just to name a few

One final note, which I'm sure many would see as controversial: I would love to see a National Park somewhere along the Wasatch Front, maybe from Little Cottonwood down to Hobble Creek Canyon, where Springville is. It would only include land that is already federally owned, which would hopefully detract from opposition. I think that lots of people would dislike this, claiming its a land grab, ski resorts would not be able to expand further onto national forests, and people wouldn't be able to ATV. However some of the areas in those canyons are some of the most spectacular mountains that I have ever been through (Alpine Loop, The trail behind Y mountain) and it would do great to continue to boost tourism throughout the Wasatch Front.