Shutdown Caused National Park Visits to Drop

places to disconnect — The Grand Canyon

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Thanks to the government shutdown and Hurricane Sandy, America's national parks saw a three percent drop in visitors last year compared to 2012, the National Park Service announced today (March 10).

According to the statement, more than 5 million people were turned away from parks and monuments within the National Park System in October, when a budget impasse froze the federal government for 16 days. "These closures had a real impact on local businesses and communities that rely on the national parks as important drivers for their local economies," Jonathan Jarvis, NPS director, said in a statement.

Communities near the national parks lost about $414 million dollars, according to a different report released last week by the NPS. Five states — California, Arizona, North Carolina, Wyoming and Virginia — each lost at least $20 million because of park closures, the park service said. The shutdown forced closures during the peak fall foliage season in the East and prime fall weather in the West.

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The NPS reported 273.6 million visits at 401 parks, down 9.1 million visits from 2012, in today's announcement. Another change in 2013: Golden Gate National Recreation Area won the top spot as the nation's most visited park, beating out the Blue Ridge Parkway. The NPS said visitation to the Blue Ridge Parkway fell by 2.5 million people in 2013 due to Hurricane Sandy-related closures and cold winter weather. Damage from Hurricane Sandy also forced the closures of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Castle Clinton in New York for part of 2013.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area: 14,289,121 visitors
Blue Ridge Parkway: 12,877,368
Great Smoky Mountains National Park: 9,354,695
George Washington Memorial Parkway: 7,360,392
Lincoln Memorial: 6,546,518
Lake Mead National Recreation Area: 6,344,714
Gateway National Recreation Area: 6,191,246
Natchez Trace Parkway: 6,012,740
Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park: 4,941,367
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area: 4,843,350

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Becky Oskin covers Earth science, climate change and space, as well as general science topics. Becky was a science reporter at Live Science and The Pasadena Star-News; she has freelanced for New Scientist and the American Institute of Physics. She earned a master's degree in geology from Caltech, a bachelor's degree from Washington State University, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz.