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Over the past decade, many national park units in the United States broke visitation records. Arches National Park (UT, USA) is no exception. Between 2011 and 2021, visitation increased 74%. As part of considering management options to address the issues from sustained and concentrated visitation, Arches implemented a pilot timed entry system from 3 April to 3 October 2022. This article compares visitor perceptions, characteristics, and support for management actions before and during the pilot timed entry system using data from visitor intercept surveys. Findings suggest visitors experience quality improved across the park and on hiking trails during the pilot timed entry system. Visitor characteristics were extremely similar, and there were no differences in local residency, group size, vehicle occupancy, race, ethnicity, first time visitation, education level, or household income. Visitors were more likely to plan for the trip further in advance and were less likely to re-enter the park during the pilot timed entry system. Lastly, visitors demonstrated more support for timed entry and lower levels of support for expanding parking, site specific reservations, and temporary closures during the pilot timed entry system. These results reflect unique insights for managers considering managed access systems like timed entry to sustainably manage visitor use in parks and protected areas.

Despite its apparent success in increasing overall use of park lands, it's difficult to measure the broader benefits and implications of these efforts because NPS does not currently collect comprehensive socioeconomic data, such as those on demographics, visitation characteristics, or spending. [...]the agency is not able to document how the recent increase in visitor use actually addresses the broader concern to reach new and more diverse audiences. [...]numerous park-specific studies covering a wide range of topics have been completed by various researchers. [...]NPS units are economic drivers in many local communities. Conclusion After 100 years of land management, NPS increasingly needs to know more about visitors and the broader societal benefits of its lands and programs. [...]as NPS evolves to become more representative of the history and demographic makeup of the US, the service needs systemwide socioeconomic data to assess progress towards its goal of relevancy and inclusion.

Yosemite National Park is one of the crown jewels of the national park system. Its remarkable convergence of natural features--the iconic Yosemite Valley, vast wilderness, ancient giant sequoias--along with its importance in enviromnental history--the precedent-setting establishment of the state reserve in 1864, the national park's close association with John Muir, the public battle over damming Hetch Hetchy--contribute to its well-deserved legendary reputation. However, its high profile as a recreation resource and its proximity to large urban centers combine to make the park an exemplar of the issues that challenge many national park managers. Primary among these are balancing public access and park protection, determining recreational \"carrying capacities,\" and managing visitor use in ways that protect the quality of park resources and visitor experiences. Meldrum and DeGroot discuss Integrated Transportation and Capacity Assessment (ITCA) model. The ITCA conceptual models leverage the connections between transportation and recreation for the purpose of informing park planning and management. Understanding that transportation is indeed recreation for visitors in parks and that transportation systems influence recreation use enables park managers to employ transportation planning and operations as recreation management tools.

Peak season visitors to Yosemite Valley knows first hand that use levels can affect the quality of theft experiences in the park. The sheer volumes of vehicles and people sometimes produce long lines at entrance gates, traffic jams at intersections, full parking lots, and congested trails or viewpoints. These problems have been challenging the park's infrastructure and operational staff for decades, but more frequently in recent years. Whittaker et al review the process used to develop capacities, and describes how Yosemite's Integrated Transportation and Capacity Assessment information helped develop plan alternatives that represent tradeoffs between transportation infrastructure, visitor numbers, and the conditions that affect visitor experiences.

Parks and recreation areas are subject to multiple and sometimes competing social pressures and management objectives including demand for recreational use, preservation of resources, and protection of the quality and character of visitor experiences. Adaptive management provides an approach to study, experiment with, and if successful, realize such multiple objectives for common resources. The management of visitor use on Half Dome in Yosemite National Park provides a clear example of an adaptive management program that works. Lessons learned from this program are illustrative and broadly applicable.Half Dome is Yosemites most iconic mountain and hiking to its summit is among the parks most popular wilderness excursions. The culmination and experiential high-point of the hike involves ascending the last 400 vertical feet of Half Dome via a cable system that provides hikers some protection from potentially fatal falls. As visitor use has increased, crowding and congestion on the cables compromise visitor safety and the mountains wilderness character. To realize the competing objectives of recreational access, wilderness preservation, and visitor protection, Yosemite executed a sustained and innovative program of adaptive management.Adaptive management is characterized by cycles of monitoring, evaluation, planning and action. Four such cycles were executed on Half Dome, each monitoring visitor use and behavior on the cables, evaluating the relationships between use level, wilderness character, and visitor safety, culminating in planning for and taking management action. Beginning with establishment of baseline conditions on the cables and formulation of indicators and standards of quality, the cycles progressed through implementation of an initial interim permit program, simulation modeling of virtual management scenarios, and adaptation of the interim permit program. These cycles have coalesced to inform development of an Environmental Assessment for long-term visitor use management on Half Dome.The program of visitor use management on Half Dome exemplifies a successful application of adaptive management to parks and recreation areas. With iterations of simulated and actual management actions, coupled with ongoing monitoring, park managers implemented a process that effectively realizes competing objectives for Half Dome. The process of visitor use management on Half Dome illustrates lessons about the challenges to and execution of adaptive management. As a management program that works, it can serve as an example for other park and recreation areas seeking to reconcile competing objectives for visitor use and resource quality.