There’s something truly marvelous about visiting a national park. It’s a connection to something much larger than ourselves, a reminder of the raw beauty and enduring history that has shaped our nation.

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.

"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

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.”

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

Timed entry, long lines of cars at the gates and trails crowded with people angling for the best photos ops. Visitors aren’t likely to find any such hurdles at the least visited of the United States’ national parks.

U.S. national parks reported a record 331.9 million visits in 2024, but a memo from the National Park Service says not to publicize the numbers.