America’s national parks reported record visitation in 2024 as government cuts loom over federal lands in Colorado and beyond approaching the busy season.

As part of a sweeping set of stated cost-saving measures under President Donald Trump, the latest reports suggest the administration is considering a 30% slash to the National Park Service’s payroll. Those reports come after weeks of what the National Parks Conservation Association described as “devastating” cuts to staff, resignations and freezes on new hires and seasonal employees.

And that’s as the National Park Service recently reported nearly 331.9 million visits to destinations nationwide last year — a 2% increase year-to-year and about a million more visits from the previous record year in 2016.

In a statement, the National Parks Conservation Association called the “robust visitation to be at extreme odds with the ongoing dismantling of America’s park legacy.”

Approaching summer, the lobbying group has told visitors to anticipate closed visitor centers and campgrounds, canceled programs and less search and rescue support.

Representing search and rescue teams in Colorado and across the West, Mountain Rescue Association in a recent letter said the National Park Service has rescinded contracts “for law enforcement and emergency medical services for this coming year in both seasonal and permanent positions.”

Mountain Rescue Association President Mark Miraglia’s letter continued: “The reduction in force of vital jobs in our National Parks and U.S. Forests and other national lands from an already decreased number of employees will have a drastic effect on public safety.”

In Colorado, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument last month announced closing Mondays and Tuesdays due to staffing.

The Teller County preserve was one National Park Service unit that saw more people in 2024: the reported 71,499 visits were up 12% from 2023.

In western Colorado, Curecanti National Recreation Area also reported a year-to-year increase: 980,899 visits, up 2%. Elsewhere in that part of the state, Colorado National Monument tallied 488,038 visits last year, close to 2,000 more than the year prior.

Rocky Mountain National Park was America’s fifth-most visited national park, with 4.1 million logged last year. The top four were Great Smoky Mountains, Zion, Grand Canyon and Yellowstone.

Rocky Mountain National Park’s visitation has held steady the past couple of years, in line with the park’s summer-time reservation system aimed at controlling crowds. Several other Colorado parks saw decreased visitation year-to-year.

That included Mesa Verde National Park, with a little more than 480,000 visits logged last year — down from nearly 505,200 in 2023. Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve visitation has steadily dipped in recent years, down to 437,661 compared with a record 602,000-plus in 2021.

Year-to-year visitation also reportedly dipped at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (335,862) and Dinosaur National Monument (322,113).

The National Park Service maps 13 parks and monuments in Colorado, along with national historic sites and national recreation areas that are among 433 units the agency oversees across the country.

Last year, the agency estimated the total 325 million park visits amounted to $26.4 billion in spending around “local gateway regions,” supporting 415,000 jobs. In Colorado, the economic benefit from national park tourism has been estimated at $1.2 billion.

Such economic data have accompanied annual visitation reports, but not for 2024.

“There is no external communications rollout for 2024 visitation data,” reads an internal memo that news outlet SFGATE published from Resistance Rangers, a group of past and present Park Service workers.

In response to inquiries, the memo instructs individual park staffers to reply with visitation numbers and an online link to more data. The instructed reply ends: “We’re looking forward to another great year welcoming visitors who come from near and far to experience all the park has to offer.”