At RVtravel.com, we rely heavily on federal news releases to keep up with what’s happening on public lands. After all, there aren’t many of us here, and only so many hours in the day to chase news. At this time of year, we’re typically telling you about how many visitors chugged into the nation’s parks “last year.” But not so this year. The National Park Service has been mysteriously quiet about how many went to the parks in 2024, and now we know why. Call it “Park Service zips lips.”
Official directive: Park Service zips lips
Did you visit any national parks last year? It wouldn’t be surprising—2024 saw the highest number of visits than ever before. A huge 331.9 million visits—a 2% increase over 2023, which saw a bumper crop of guests. But Park Service media people have essentially been told to “zip their lips.”
“There is no external communications rollout for 2024 visitation data,” says an internal Park Service memo. How do we know this? A group called Resistance Rangers, made up of current and former park service employees, published the memo, which we include an image of.
That same directive says that after the data appears on NPS.gov on March 5, then individual parks can publish the information. That can be posted on their own individual websites if “that is the park’s standard process … but should not issue a press release or other proactive communications, including social media posts.”
Not quite “Don’t ask, don’t tell”—But only limited information allowed “out”
It’s not quite a “Don’t ask—don’t tell” situation. If a reporter specifically asks park media people for information, then they can be told facts and numbers. But park representatives are constrained from giving any information beyond the 2024 visitor statistics.
Us media types used to get releases that would tell us not only the visitor head counts, but would also proudly point out just how much local communities benefited from those visits, in dollars and cents. And those “gateway communities” will tell you, park visitors make a huge difference to their economies.
News outlet SFGATE, released the leaked memo it obtained from Resistance Rangers. They asked Don Neubacher, a former Yosemite superintendent and member of the executive council of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, about the issue. “‘Normally parks share this visitation data widely because they are proud of the number of Americans they oversee yearly,’ he wrote in an email to SFGATE. But news of the parks being more crowded than ever becomes inconvenient to explain when you’re making widespread staff cuts, Neubacher pointed out.”
The Park Service zips lips. Hopefully other information that RVers need will be more forthcoming.
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##RVT1200b
ALWAYS ponder the motivation of any article/publication/poll/query, inquiry/media source, this one included, then form your own opinion. Use logic and rationality and not emotion in that formation.
Yes thank you DJT for bringing freedom of speech and transparency back to the USA
Please say you are being sarcastic. Grumpy vet will think you mean it 😂
Sarcasm is just one of the many services I offer
Curious why you come to this site to comment, GrumpyVet. I find it very informative for issues that affect me as a traveling RV’er. Yet you always find fault with the articles as being inaccurate. Why do you keep coming back if you find the information lacking? Seems like you should go looking for other websites that meet your needs, since clearly you feel that this one does not. Do you even travel in an RV?
LOL! If that is a personal attack and you are trying to “cancel” me, do better, after 28yrs of service, I have a VERY thick skin! There are indeed many beneficial articles on this site. There are also articles that have hidden bias (tone, tenor, and tenacity). Practical application of the first tenet of Sinek’s “Start With Why” is questioning people’s motives or purposes [in PSYOP it means knowing your target audience], and the foundation for my last comment. Far too often individuals form an opinion based on emotion w/o consideration of a competing narrative. Yes I have an RV, travel 8mos out of the year, and sometimes comment to make Libs’ heads explode – it works! Happy Motoring!
Grumpy, I agree on this article. They aren’t “zipping lips.” They are ensuring that a common set of statistics that are verified is being published from the official source data.
Many of the things we see happening are very common business practices. In the major international I spent my career at, we were often reminded that any external media communication had to go through the media communications process. When you have 10’s or 100’s of thousands of employees, they can’t all be out posting “official” media communications. Plus, it’s more efficient to have one source of reference. Individual park staff can focus on running the park vs writing & posting “things.”
Grumpy Vet, if you comment, as you say, with the purpose of making someone’s “head explode,” whatever their political affiliation, then I request you keep your opinion to yourself. — Chuck/publisher
Curious…and interesting. The result may not be the intent but the byproduct of introducing a thought not aligned to another’s own thinking. I may be wrong but posit that an echo chamber of ideas stifles alternative perspectives. I embrace Voltaire’s prospective, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Others on the site don’t necessarily subscribe to the same philosophy. (Obviously it’s necessary to keep w/in the terms of service/usage). I’ve never used cuss words, adult language, hate speech or racial slurs).
GrumpyVet, you wrote in an earlier comment: “sometimes [I] comment to make Libs’ heads explode – it works!” Well, that is not allowed here. We comment to add value to a discussion, not to make someone we disagree with angry.
Yet this is what you left coast libs do every single day, with your Trump-loathing agenda. Where is one – ONE – article on your site which speaks positively about the Administration’s efforts to find waste, fraud and abuse with government spending, for example? It’s always some article tugging at heart strings because “John and Sue May Not Have a National Park Job Anymore,” as if that’s the end of America.
You and your staff hate Trump and the GOP. Why not stop pretending you’re unbiased and just admit it already?
I voted for Trump three times. I wouldn’t have voted for him last time, but in my opinion I felt he was the best of the worst. Seeing what President Trump, Musk and republicans are doing and how they’re doing it is wrong and not what I voted to have done. Unfortunately most of our good government employees are getting the blame and fired for what both political parties have done and allowed to go on for years. You could just sit back and allow it to continue, but remember it’ll affect you negatively sooner than later.
Cutting wasteful spending, rooting out fraud and corruption is wrong, Mr. Pavet? Or are you okay with American taxpayers funding $20 million dollars to fund “Sesame Street” in Iraq? And on and on it goes.
No one should think there won’t be pain and sacrifice to improve the financial crisis in this country. For many years now our voting choice has always been between bad and worse. That’s politics. IMO, Ronnie was the last clearly good choice this country had.
Sometime in the future, could be years from now, our bankrupt country will REALLY need to make deep cuts in “entitlement programs” just to pay the interest on the debt. What is happening now is nothing compared to what is coming years from now when it’s time to pay the piper.
Thanks Chuck!
Why does this article read that it is the National Park Service keeping quiet, when the fact is this group of “Renegade Rangers” is merely trying to protest the current administration over political differences. Please SHARE ALL THE FACTS, not just opinions disguised as FACTS, FAKE STORY!
Thank you for the information, Russ and Tina! Yes, certainly is “inconvenient” if something growing in popularity is targeted for de-emphasis. Personally, my predisposition is well-described by one of the less-famous (?) of “Yogi” Berra’s published comments, “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.” I prefer few companions and lots of solitude. Thankfully, we have lots of both here at the farm. 🙂 Have a great day and safe travels!
An interesting twist that can have any number of meanings.
The first being data is being denied since cuts in the face of growth is potentially a political football as suggested by the SFGate article.
Or the data is being withheld since it might unfairly suggest the ranger to visitor ratio would shut down smaller parks while putting so many staff in the larger ones there’d be no room for guests.
Or would the data might demonstrate the need to automate things and pursue efficiency (like the automakers did who now produce more cars per day with fewer employees).
Or the real meaning which hasn’t been disclosed.
So someone or group has made a decision to censor information released to the public based on political beliefs. Hmmm……when/where have we seen that before?
Yes, a very recent administration was threatening Zuckerburg (his words) if he didn’t censor postings and restrict free speech! Thanks for reminding me of what we went through with that administration!
This doesn’t track with how politicized everything is now. You’d think they’d want to highlight how dumb cuts are given this fact.
Yep more the sky is falling from Russ & Tina please cure yourself of TDS, your ruining this newsletter!
Hi, Dave. Russ and Tina are relaying the news as it is reported. This is not an opinion piece. Don’t shoot the messenger! –Diane at RVtravel.com