Hiking and camping spiked during COVID. Then they kept going up

Los Angeles Times

4 days ago

It took an invading contagion from the other side of the world to remind some of us: California is best experienced outdoors. Leaving screens, phones and Amber alerts behind, Californians enjoy, among other delights, the glory of America's most majestic coastline and its most spectacular mountain range.
During those queasy days of 2020 when public health officials shut down most public gathering places in an attempt to control the COVID-19 pandemic, state and national park attendance skyrocketed.
Stats from the state and feds show how the drive to be outside has only grown, even as the virus has receded and indoor spaces have become welcoming again. That trend has been demonstrated again, as the number of camping reservations for this summer at California state parks jumped 36% over the already elevated figures for June, July and August of 2024.
Some parks have seen even bigger increases for that period, led by Henry W. Coe State Park near Silicon Valley-adjacent Morgan Hill, where nearly twice as many camp spots have been reserved; Half Moon Bay State Beach, up 75%, MacKerricher State Park in Mendocino County, up 71%, Bolsa Chica State Beach in Orange County, up 69%.
The state's marquee outdoor space, Yosemite National Park, has experienced a similar boom, with attendance spiraling up 56% in four years, to more than 4.1 million in 2024.
That's all fine and good, but the extra car and foot traffic is not easy to manage. And the government agencies that oversee those spaces will be straining to both welcome the influx and protect those beloved havens, with less help than they had before.
State parks sustained a 7.95% budget reduction, a cut similar to those being absorbed by other California departments, in the just-approved state budget.
The state's parks leaders have chosen to maintain the staffing, cleanup and maintenance that is 'visitor facing,' while postponing natural resource conservation and endangered species management, in places where 'the impacts are not going to be permanent,' said Adrien Contreras, assistant deputy director for state park operations.
The National Park Service has also been underfunded for decades, and reduced staffing 16.5% since 2023, according to the National Parks Conservation Assn., a leading nonprofit advocating for public lands. That amounts to 3,600 fewer rangers and other personnel across the country.
In order to keep basic services in place, workers have been reassigned. That maintenance man cleaning your toilet just might be a trained biologist.
So thank the workers when you crowd into a park this summer. They mostly took these jobs to serve the public, not to get rich, said Contreras, who began as a 19-year-old seasonal employee and remains with the state parks agency, almost a quarter of a century later.
'These are very important places for people to go out and find solace,' Contreras said. 'It's a very stressful time, with everything going on right now, so we want to make sure we are there for the public.'
Today's great photo is from Alejandro Cegarra. It depicts a Stryker armored vehicle patrolling the border area dividing Juárez, Mexico, from El Paso, Texas, after Trump's tariff threats.
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