Park Visitations Up In February

Visitation to Yellowstone National Park during February experienced a 4¼% increase from the same month last year.  According to the National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics Office, 31,053 people visited the park for recreational purposes with another 48,559 entering the park for other reasons – most of those traveling through the northwestern corner of the park on US Highway 191.  Last Month’s recreational visitation marks the highest numbers seen in the park since 1996.  Meanwhile, Grand Teton National Park reports 40,742 recreational visitors for the month which is nearly a 28% increase over the same month last year. Meanwhile, non-recreational traffic indicated a major jump over last year, totaling 99,684 this year.  Spokesperson Jackie Skaggs says the size of the disparity from last year is at least in part due to a new traffic counting system that has been put in on US Highway 26-89-191 along the eastern side of the park.  Now, she says, the park is seeing more accuracy and better data which will continue to be something the park can depend upon. However, she adds that staff members at the entrance stations last month confirm by observation that visitation was noticeably up.