Grand Teton, Yellowstone and other national parks saw visitation numbers back at pre-pandemic highs this summer. At the most popular parks, visitors had to navigate long lines, noise, packed parking lots and throngs of other tourists.

Michael Childers, author of the new book “The Mountains Are Calling: Tourists and the Unmaking of Yosemite National Park,” which details how the parks’ popularity and management policies have both shaped and harmed national parks, said it is much harder to have meaningful experiences at the iconic sites because so many people want the same thing.

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"When you're at an overlook or in the valley or on a trail and it's so crowded that you can't hear yourself think, that you might as well be in Times Square, then that erodes that national park experience that we all expect," Childers explained.

High visitation numbers also take a toll on aging boardwalks, bridges, restrooms and other infrastructure. The nation’s parks currently face a deferred maintenance backlog of more than $23 billion.

The single greatest threat to national parks — and the wildflowers and wildlife calling them home — is climate change, according to analysis by the National Parks Conservation Association. Park ecosystems are also challenged by the Trump administration's decision to open more surrounding public lands to drilling and other extractive industries.

Childers noted the pandemic-era timed reservation system gave parks some relief by cutting visitor traffic by half in some cases but pointed out gateway communities did not want the restrictions and convinced the federal government reservations are bad for business.

"The Park Service just decided not to have its reservation system, meaning it's not going to govern the number of people going into the park. And that's largely due to pressure from local communities who see every car driving past as dollar signs," Childers emphasized.

Since October of last year, spending on national park projects outside Washington, D.C., dropped by 70%, with a budget $845 million less than the previous year, according to an Atlantic magazine investigation. Childers stressed high visitation numbers are also affecting park staff. Since January 2025, the National Park Service has lost nearly a quarter of its permanent workforce.

"The DOGE cuts really impacted the National Park Service. They've lost a third of their staffing in Yosemite alone. And so for all of us, picking up your own litter and staying within bounds and that sort of stuff is going to be really helpful," Childers added.