The 2016 numbers are in, and they're big news for national parks in the Pacific Northwest.
Huge crowds flooded park sites around Cascadia last year, according to data from the National Park Service, bringing more than 18 million tourists to the region. Some parks set new records for recreational visits, while others drew the biggest crowds in decades.
Park officials have been quick to credit the National Park Service's centennial celebration last year, which saw a flurry of media promoting parks around the country. But the crowds also reflect a growing trend in many Pacific Northwest parks, which are seeing visitation growth almost annually.
"National parks just caught the public's attention," National Park Service spokesman Jeff Olson said of the growth. "People became interested in national parks and the [2016] centennial. We had lots of help."
Record-breaking crowds showed up at Crater Lake, Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks, as well as Fort Vancouver and Lewis & Clark National Historical Parks, which collectively drew more than 9.3 million people last year.
Park sites at North Cascades, San Juan Islands and Redwood saw the biggest crowds since the 1990s, while Grand Teton National Park attracted the most people since its record-setting year in 1970.
Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks in Washington drew the biggest crowds since 2000 and 2002, respectively. Glacier Bay National Park and the Nez Perce National Historical Park both saw modest increases in visitation.
"I'm very excited for us," Bob Cromwell, acting chief ranger at Fort Vancouver, said. "I hope it just continues to build on the relevancy on national parks in general."
Fort Vancouver is a success story by itself, drawing a record 1,117,443 people to the park in 2016, breaking a record set in 2009. That makes the historical park one of the most popular national park sites in Oregon and Washington, eclipsed only by Olympic National Park.
Combined, the 13 national park sites attracted 18.4 million people last year. That's not including other park sites around the region, like the Pacific Northwest's 12 national monuments.
The numbers bring up questions both good and bad for the National Park Service. On one hand, the uptick in tourism could be a boon for local economies near the parks. On the other hand, a swelling of crowds could be a strain on the parks' infrastructures, which still suffer from a backlog in maintenance.
"There are some well-trampled places in national parks, but there are many, many other places that are not," Olson said. "These landscapes are pretty resilient so far."
--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB
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