Summer Visitor Use and Resource Monitoring at Focal Attractions and Trails in Yellowstone National Park

Project ID: P17AC00663

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Partner Institution: Oregon State University

Fiscal Year: 2017

Initial Funding: $24,944

Total Funding: $24,944

Project Type: Research

Project Disciplines: Social

National Park: Yellowstone National Park

Principal Investigator: D'Antonio, Ashley

Agreement Technical Representative: Haas, Sarah

Abstract: Annual visitation to Yellowstone National Park has increased by more than 40% since the early 2000’s, and has spiked in recent years with a dramatic increase of 21% from 2014-16. Research shows that parking capacity and road congestion in the most heavily visited parts of the park drop below critical performance thresholds during much of Yellowstone’s summer visitation season, and a majority of park visitors indicate that lack of parking, congestion, and crowding is impactful to their park experience. The research in this proposal will support a pre-planning process being implemented in Yellowstone to address interrelated problems associated with increasing summer visitation in order to protect resources and improve visitor experience. The research in this proposal develops, analyzes, reports the 2017 results of a monitoring protocol to quantitatively measure levels and patterns of visitor use and associated resource impacts at Yellowstone’s most highly visited attractions and trailheads. These protocols will be used to inform citizen science data collection by high school YCC participants under NPS supervision as part of a program that motivates its youth participants to become involved in the natural, cultural and /or historical resource protection of their communities and beyond.