After years of skyrocketing crowds, wildfires slowed down visitors to Oregon's outdoors in 2017. Wochit
Turns out, the only thing that will keep Oregonians from the outdoors are catastrophic wildfires.
The number of people visiting Oregon’s outdoor destinations showed a slight dip during 2017, due largely to the state’s active wildfire season, according to state and national parks officials.
Officials began 2017 expecting another record-shattering season, following four years of explosive growth. August's solar eclipse was expected to bring millions.
“There was a little bit of relief that we didn’t continue on the same record-breaking pace,” Oregon Parks and Recreation Department spokesman Chris Havel said. “It gives us a chance to catch our breath and catch up.”
Oregon’s state parks system had roughly 50.8 million visits in 2017, a slight drop-off from the previous year’s record of 51.7 million.
The biggest declines were at parks in the Columbia River Gorge and Central Cascade Range, due mostly to wildfires, Havel said.
A similar trend was observed at many, but not all, national parks, monuments, national forests and wilderness areas across Oregon.
Crater Lake National Park had 711,749 visits in 2017, down from the 2016 record of 756,344. The 2017 number was still the second-highest in history, even though the park was surrounded by two wildfires in the summer.
Story continues below:
More: Oregon’s warm winter and low snowpack makes summer drought likely
Places where fire wasn't an immediate threat did set attendance records, including Eastern Oregon and especially the northern Oregon Coast, numbers show.
Havel said smoke in the valley and fire in the mountains pushed many people onto the northern and central coast.
"There were a few places that just went through the roof," Havel said. "Our staff love serving our visitors, but it takes a toll."
Which parks saw a big increase and set records?
The biggest increase in visitation was at the northern Oregon Coast.
State parks on the coast had 29.5 million visits, up from 28.6 million a year ago and as low as 21 million in 2011.
Two parks where visits went through the roof in 2017 were Tolovana Beach State Recreation Site, near Cannon Beach, and Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint, near Florence.
Tolovana jumped to 1.1 million visits in 2017, almost doubling the 2016 total of 644,000. Heceta Head was even more striking, hitting 1 million visits after seeing just 215,000 a year ago.
- The most popular park on the Oregon Coast was Newport's Yaquina Bay State Recreation Site, at almost 1.7 million visits.
- Oregon's most popular camping spot remained Fort Stevens State Park at 257,000 camper nights.
Two national monuments in Oregon broke attendance records. Lewis and Clark National Historic Park hit 293,000 visits (up from 282,000 in 2016) while John Day Fossil Beds National Monument reached 215,000, up from as little as 130,925 in 2009.
Which parks saw a major decline?
The parks that saw the biggest decline, not surprisingly, were those closed by the Eagle Creek Fire in the Gorge.
Crown Point State Scenic Corridor (home of Vista House) dropped to 580,000 visits, from almost 800,000 the year before. Rooster Rock, Guy Talbot and Bridal Veil also saw declines following months-long closures.
Detroit Lake State Park, expected to see major increases because of its location in the center of the eclipse path of totality, saw a decline in day use visits but a small increase in camping nights. Detroit was near the 11,000-acre Whitewater Fire, which burned much of the summer and fouled the air.
One surprise was that Harris Beach State Park, just a few miles from the Chetco Bar Fire, the state's largest of the season, saw numbers close to normal.
Part of that could be because the park was converted into a shelter for people displaced by the fire, Havel said.
A final reason for the overall decline in numbers at state parks is that Maples Rest Area was transferred to management by the Oregon Department of Transportation.
More: Oregon snowpack expected to grow, Salem likely to miss out on snow
Help on the way
Even with the small decline, Oregon's state parks have still continued to see rapid growth. That's not expected to change in coming years.
The good news, Havel said, is that the state park budget included money for 21 additional park rangers who will start in 2018.
Parks officials also got permission to offer discounted rates at some less-visited parks, while in the future slightly increasing rates at more crowded parks.
The goal is to entice more people to camp at such places as Humbug Mountain State Park (42,000 camper nights), as opposed to Fort Stevens (257,000 camper nights).
"Maybe somebody who’s having problems getting a night at Fort Stevens would consider Humbug if they got a night of camping for free," OPRD parks director Lisa Sumption said in an April interview with the Statesman Journal.
"We’re trying to move some of our crowds across the system, and this is one way of doing that. We have a lot of parks with capacity that few people visit."
Oregon state parks visitation
Day-use
2017: 50,772,895
2016: 51,716,729
2015: 48,471,330
2014: 45,510,297
2013: 43,733,985
2012: 41,917,175
2011: 39,762,608
2010: 41,498,739
2009: 41,952,843
2008: 38,880,032
2007: 41,499,240
2006: 40,295,626
2005: 40,077,029
2004: 41,778,009
2003: 39,514,980
2002: 38,551,864
Oregon Coast state parks visitation
Day use
2017: 29,562,745
2016: 28,603,243
2015: 27,528,098
2014: 24,969,651
2013: 24,035,716
2012: 23,314,225
2011: 21,426,973
2010: 22,428,747
2009: 23,497,013
2008: 21,684,258
2007: 23,474,768
2006: 22,953,890
2005: 21,925,604
2004: 23,248,905
2003: 21,090,250
2002: 20,927,888
Oregon state parks camping nights
2017: 2,788,358
2016: 2,741,578
2015: 2,590,942
2014: 2,491,805
2013: 2,411,954
2012: 2,319,078
2011: 2,307,741
2010: 2,410,817
2009: 2,515,652
2008: 2,327,464
2007: 2,362,409
2006: 2,305,651
2005: 2,318,074
2004: 2,381,379
2003: 2,383,534
2002: 2,380,911
Crater Lake National Park visits
2017: 711,749
2016: 756,344
2015: 614,712
2014: 535,508
2013: 523,027
2012: 447,251
2011: 423,551
2010: 448,319
2009: 446,516
Lewis and Clark National Historic Park visits
2017: 293,356
2016: 281,576
2015: 270,410
2014: 244,921
2013: 217,022
2012: 201,704
2011: 191,867
2010: 218,553
2009: 225,846
John Day Fossil Beds National Monument visits
2017: 214,557
2016: 210,110
2015: 196,277
2014: 183,420
2013: 156,285
2012: 148,152
2011: 148,002
2010: 135,151
2009: 130,925
Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve visits
2017: 72,212
2016: 80,613
2015: 72,709
2014: 69,405
2013: 72,717
2012: 78,164
2011: 76,194
2010: 86,335
2009: 88,496
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "After years of skyrocketing crowds, wildfires slow visitors to Oregon's outdoors in 2017"
Post a Comment