2025 / Climate, Public land

National Park Service Staff Perspectives on How Climate Change Affects Visitor Use

Citation

Rappaport Keener, S., Wilkins, E. J., Carr, W., Winder, S. G., Reas, J., Daniele, D. B., & Wood, S. A. (2025). National Park Service staff perspectives on how climate change affects visitor use. People and Nature. doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70107

Link to file

Plain Language Summary

Climate change is increasingly affecting our planet, leading to issues like droughts, floods, and rising temperatures. In the United States, these changes are having noticeable effects on national parks and the people who enjoy them. National Park Service staff across the United States are noticing a variety of ways that climate change is affecting visitor use at their parks, including limiting recreation access and affecting visitor health and safety.

Researchers spoke to 63 park staff at 31 national parks to better understand how climate change is affecting visitor use at their parks. Conversations were analyzed to understand how staff perceive climate change affecting visitors at national parks, and what impacts staff are most worried about for the future.

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Abstract

Three bikers traveling through the Swan Lake area at Yellowstone National Park in the spring. As temperatures increase due to climate impacts, shoulder seasons in parks may allow for more warm-weather activities. Credit: NPS / Jacob W. Frank.
  1. Many public lands, including those managed by the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), have the purpose of conserving natural and cultural resources and providing opportunities for visitors to recreate in and enjoy these areas. Achieving this mission becomes more challenging as drought, flooding, increasing temperatures and other climatic change effects are impacting NPS lands and visitors and affecting factors such as visitation, recreation access and health and safety among other aspects of park operations.
  2. However, the literature lacks insights from staff dealing with on-the-ground climate impacts to visitor use. To address this gap, we held semi-structured interviews with 63 staff from 31 NPS units across the United States (U.S.) to better understand the effects of climate change on visitor use. We qualitatively analysed the interviews using both deductive and inductive methods to identify key themes.
  3. Interview participants consistently noted that climate change is already affecting visitor use at their parks. For instance, increasing temperatures are negatively affecting both staff and visitor safety at parks nationwide, whereas all coastal parks within our sample are already experiencing impacts from sea-level rise or more frequent and severe coastal storms and hurricanes. Other impacts include reduced recreational access, damaged infrastructure and cultural resources and diminished visitor experiences due to fire and smoke.
  4. Similarly, concerns about future impacts often revolved around the health and safety of visitors and staff—particularly related to wildfire and smoke, water quality and availability, and increased heat—and climate change forever altering parks.
  5. Our research shows staff in parks and protected areas are noticing effects of climate change on visitor use; some of these impacts have not been previously documented in the scientific literature. Study results highlight future visitor use management research needs and key topics to consider for visitor use planning processes.