Boy did Americans and other visitors make good use of US National Park Service sites in 2024 – enough to set a record.

They range from national memorials to national seashores. The National Park Service says they are all often referred to as parks, but only 63 have "National Park" in their name, like Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The number of National Park Service employees who keep more than 400 sites running is dwindling thanks to layoffs, buyouts. Here's what it could mean for visitors this year.

There was no press release, no sparkling quote from the National Park Service's acting director, no agency public conversation about the record 331.9 million people who explored the National Park System in 2024.

Despite record visitation to NPS sites, an internal memo was sent out to parks saying “there is no external communications rollout for 2024 visitation data.”

After a complaint filed against the National Park Service over its policy to not accept cash payments at certain parks was tossed out last month, the fight is back on: One plaintiff maintains that the park service’s cashless policy is causing her harm.

"Quite simply and astonishingly, this is dismantling the National Park Service as we know it, ranger by ranger and brick by brick." - Theresa Pierno, NPCA's President and CEO

The No. 1 most visited NPS site is home to military sites such as the Presidio in San Francisco, and it supports 19 distinct ecosystems from seashore to redwood forests. Attendance jumped almost

Park rangers are crowdsourcing terminations and cataloging the number of National Park Service employees the Trump administration has fired across the country.

Park advocates say recent staff layoffs and building lease terminations could have far-reaching implications for both the visitor experience and the protection of natural resources.