Now is the time to institute hard carrying capacities in national parks, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

With planning now underway for how best to open national parks that have been closed by the coronavirus pandemic, it's the perfect time for superintendents to institute visitor carrying capacities that Congress long ago called for, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Social distancing likely will be a key in parks once they reopen, and the 1978 act by Congress calling for carrying capacities in the parks could help in that area, PEER said.

In calling for carrying capacities to be instituted, PEER officials noted that many national parks have been setting visitation records in recent years. Yet, when some of the most afflicted parks, such as Zion National Park in Utah, attempt to limit crowds they face local political opposition with zero support from the top of the National Park Service and Interior Department officials, the group said.

More than four decades ago, Congress passed the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978. That legislation called for superintendents to develop “visitor carrying capacities for all areas” of their parks. And yet, PEER said few major national parks have adopted carrying capacities to prevent harmful overcrowding. Carrying capacities, the group said, are not merely a hard limit on the number of visitors but are standards for implementing social distancing, such as: 

• Maximum number of encounters on trails;
• Caps on waiting times to see a park feature, to prevent long lines; and;
• The ability to camp out of sight or sound range of neighbors.

“Reopening these national parks will not be as simple as just unlocking the gates,” said PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse.  “As many commentators have said that our national parks are being ‘loved to death,’ social distancing may prove an antidote to destructive overcrowding.”

This legal requirement that parks be managed to prevent crowds from harming park resources or detracting from visitor experience will also require new management philosophies from park superintendents who see ever higher visitation as a gauge of park success and relevance, said PEER.

In addition, carrying capacities are supposed to be part of park general management plans, developed with public input and in a transparent manner, said the group. However, the current planning for park reopening, as with many other park functions, is now being hatched behind closed doors.

“These national parks belong to all Americans and the plans governing their use should involve the public, as well,” said Whitehouse, noting that carrying capacities will give park staff enforceable rules to maintain social distancing.  “With a new era of park management dawning, revisiting bedrock principles central to preserving ‘America’s best idea’ may be especially timely.”