Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which is home to the popular Point Bonita Lighthouse, ranked No. 1 in National Park System visitation last year/Kurt Repanshek file

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

Normally such news would be highly touted by the Park Service, usually with a quote from the agency director.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum did hold a press availability on Wednesday, when the visitation report was posted deep within nps.gov, to discuss a liquefied natural gas liquefaction and export facility in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. But it fell to the National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks to announce last year's bullish park visitation. And those two groups contrasted the popularity of the parks with the Trump administration's efforts to downsize the Park Service.

"The National Park Service just reported the highest visitation in its history, as the administration conducts massive firings and threatens to close visitor centers and public safety facilities. It’s a slap in the face to the hundreds of millions of people who explored our parks last year and want to keep going back. Americans love their national parks; these cuts do not have public support," said Kristen Brengel, NPCA's senior vice president for government affairs. “As peak travel season arrives, park visitors will have to contend with closed visitor centers and campgrounds, canceled ranger programs, and less search and rescue staff. If building leases are cancelled, it will make these problems worse."

At the Coalition, Phil Francis said the record visitation "is a clear indication of how much Americans love their national parks. It also further demonstrates how out of touch the current administration is. Parks were already understaffed and underfunded. While park visitation continues to rise, the administration has dismantled the NPS workforce – with a proposed mass reduction in force still underway.”

Inquiries to the National Park Service and the Interior Department about the lack of a press release were not immediately answered Thursday.

Keep Track Of Traveler's Coverage Of National Parks In Crisis

It was learned last week that more than 700 Park Service staff were taking up the Trump administration's offer to resign now but be paid possibly through September. The mass departure was just the latest staffing setback for the Park Service. In January the agency rescinded job offers to about 5,000 seasonal workers, and on Valentine's Day another 1,000 probationary workers were fired. In addition, the agency is tasked with coming up with a reduction-in-force plan, and a hiring freeze is preventing the Park Service from filling vacant jobs without receiving an exception.

While Burgum has reversed the seasonal worker situation by allowing 7,500 to be hired for the coming summer, how long it will take to get those workers on board was unclear.

Meanwhile, the administration has suspended normal spending authority and proposed canceling the leases for more than 30 Park Service buildings that house visitor centers, museums and other park facilities.

According to NPCA, nine visitor centers and visitor contact stations are slated for lease cancellations:

• Morris Thompson Visitor Center, Fairbanks, AK, Dunkle St.
• Little River Canyon Center, AL, Alabama Hwy
• Southern Arizona office, AZ, N Central Ave
• New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park Visitor Center, LA, N Peters St
• Mississippi National River, MN, Kellogg Blvd
• Niobrara National Scenic River Visitor Center, NE, W Highway 20
• Salinas Pueblo Missions, NM, Ripley Ave
• Missouri National Recreational River Visitor Center, SD, 508 East 2nd Street
• Klondike Gold Rush, WA, 2nd Ave S

As for last year's visitation tally, it represented a 2 percent increase over 2023's count of 325.5 million. Twenty-eight parks, or 7 percent of the 404 parks that track visits, set records for annual recreation visits. The tracking of visits also shows that 55 percent of parks experienced an above-average number of visits in February-June and October-December, months outside of the typically heavy summer months. While "national parks" received the greatest number of visitors, the Park Service numbers showed how the visitation was divided across the National Park System.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California claimed the greatest visitation, with 17.2 million visitors. The rest of the top ten in 2024 visitation were:

Blue Ridge Parkway, 16.7 million

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 12.2 million

Gateway National Recreation Area, 8.9 million

Lincoln Memorial, 8.5 million

Gulf Islands National Seashore, 7.8 million

Natchez Trace Parkway, 7.3 million

George Washington Memorial Parkway, 6.7 million

Lake Mead National Recreation Area, 6.4 million

Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 5.3 million

Yellowstone National Park ranked 14th, with 4.7 million visitors. Rocky Mountain National Park was 18, with 4.15 million, and Yosemite National Park 20th, with 4.12 million.