Why in the world would the Trump administration want to cut the budget, and the number of park rangers, in our national parks?
In 2024, the US National Park Service (NPS) received a discretionary budget request of $3.8 billion, with an additional $1.2 billion from recreation fees, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and other mandatory funding sources, for a total of $5.0 billion. The parks generated an estimated $55.6 billion in economic activity.
Last year broke records for people visiting our beautiful national parks and monuments with the National Park Service recording nearly 350 million visits at one of the country’s parks, parkways, battlefields, national seashores, memorials, and historic sites. Visitation numbers were up 2% from 2023. They also beat a previous record set in 2016 which saw around 330.9 million recreation visits.
Here’s a list of the top, most visited national park sites of 2024:
In first place with 17.18 million visits is Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The popularity of this site is no surprise, with stunning views of the famous Golden Gate Bridge, this area comprises 82,116 acres of landscape surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Made more famous by films and literature, this one is a must-see.
The Blue Ridge Parkway is the second most-visited NPS site with around 16.73 million visitors in 2024. This road of magical scenery through Virginia and North Carolina is great for road trips, and easy to visit while on the go.
Following close behind is Great Smoky Mountains National Park located in the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee. This park sees most foot traffic during the summer months, when the landscapes are at their greenest.
Other top sites making the list included: Gateway National Recreation Area, Lincoln Memorial, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Natchez Trace Parkway, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Lake Mead National Recreation Area and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
However, when just assessing national parks instead of all National Park Service sites, the top three are Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Zion National Park and Grand Canyon National Park.
A year of success at the NPS has not paid off for service employees as the agency is facing mass firings due to action by the Trump Administration. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Trump and his cronies are hoping to keep the success of NPS’s last fiscal year very quiet.
