Visitor spending in and near national parks contributed to the U.S. economy at a record high level last year.

Grand Teton is one park looking at how to manage increasing visitation. Lodging, meals and other 2023 visitor spending in communities near national parks contributed more than $55 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 400,000 jobs, according to the National Park Service. Grand Teton National Park ranks fifth for visitor spending, at nearly $750 million. The park said visitor numbers are increasing and the trend is expected to continue.

Jennifer Newton, social scientist at Grand Teton National Park, said they have been collecting public comments this summer.

"We're really at a phase and a point where we're interested in getting public feedback on what our desired conditions are in the park and what we should be managing for," Newton explained.

After some fluctuations during the pandemic, Newton pointed out visitation rates in 2023 were similar to 2019, though how and when those visitors used the park shifted. According to a July report, 43% agreed Grand Teton National Park was "too crowded."

The visitor spending report also tallies the labor income, value-added and economic output based on each national park and each state. Wyoming ranks high in several of these categories. Newton noted the information is helpful at the local, regional and federal levels.

"That's really helpful whenever you think about things, too, like for every dollar that Congress invests in national parks, there is a greater than $10 return on that investment," Newton emphasized.

In the 2025 federal budget, the Biden administration requested $3.6 billion for the National Park Service, an increase of more than $250 million from the 2024 budget.


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From power outages to burnt farmland, North Dakota is coming to grips with the impact of several large wildfires that are linked to at least two deaths. The fires intensified this past weekend around the western half of the state, with crews working in recent days to get them under control. Gov. Doug Burgum said when they get the final numbers, it is possible the fires will have consumed as many as 50,000 acres of farmland.

Daryl Ritchison, North Dakota State Climatologist, said windy and dry conditions fueled the devastation, adding that there's no doubt the agricultural community was hard hit.

"Farmers lost cattle. Farmers lost grazing land. Farmers lost houses. Farmers lost their fencing," he continued.

The North Dakota Farmers Union reminds ranchers who lost cattle, pasture and equipment in the fires that the federal Farm Service Agency has resources to help them recover. Information can be found on the USDA website. Meanwhile, the governor has said this could be one of the worst groups of fires in state history when factoring in acreage.

Ritchison suggested it's too early to link this disaster to climate change, noting the state's history with prairie fires, especially this time of year, and added that if there is a silver lining, early warnings to farmers - to pause their fall harvest - appeared to be effective.

"If there's any good in this, I think it could have potentially been even worse considering the wind gusts up to 60, 70 miles per hour, how dry the conditions were, the low relative humidity," he explained.

Globally, scientists say climate change is one of several factors as to why wildfires are becoming more destructive and difficult to contain. It's prompting more calls for state and local governments to become better prepared and alert the public ahead of time. A recent report found that preparation lapses hindered evacuations during the deadly Maui fires in Hawaii last year.

New legislation making its way through the U.S. Senate would conserve more than 730,000 acres of federal public lands in and around Colorado's Gunnison Basin.

Tony Prendergast, a cattle rancher near Crawford, was one of a number of stakeholders who worked for a decade to shape the legislation. He said farmers, ranchers, hunters, anglers, hikers, mountain bikers, wildlife advocates and others realized the lands were being "loved to death," and if nothing was done, everyone would lose.

"We came together to say, 'Well, how can we work together to protect what exists, and protect it well in the future and into future generations?'" Prendergast explained.

The Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection Act, led by Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., taps federal wilderness and special management area protections for important fish and wildlife habitat. The bill would also transfer the Pinecrest Ranch into a sovereign land trust for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Six Colorado counties and 16 advocacy organizations support the measure but some in Congress continue to oppose any increased public lands protections.

The measure would not affect water rights or existing land uses, such as mining or oil and gas leases. But Prendergast pointed out the legislation will give land managers the tools they need to mitigate conflicts after a surge in outdoor recreation.

"New mountain bike trails were appearing all the time," Prendergast noted. "The motorized recreation was spreading out across the landscape. Gates were being left open. There would be conflicts, livestock dogs chasing off mountain bikers."

He added the legislation would also allow land managers to prioritize the needs of wildlife during critical times, such as the end of winter when animals are weak and nutrition levels are at their lowest.

"In an area where wildlife is close to having their young, there may need to be closures from dusk to dawn from human activity, so wildlife can have a break," Prendergast added.


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A new federal proposal details which public lands across the West would be open to solar development. Wildlife advocates are glad to see that some - but not much - of Wyoming is included.

The Western Solar Plan by the Bureau of Land Management opens 31 million acres across 11 western states to potential solar-power development. In Wyoming, 3.8 million acres would be open for potential permits, far less than the combined 15 million acres currently available through independent plans from the state's BLM field offices.

Julia Stuble, Wyoming state director for The Wilderness Society, said wildlife is sensitive to development, especially in migration corridors critical to big game - and the plan incorporates new research on the needs of those species.

"Being included in this proactive approach - where BLM is looking at areas to exclude and making those decisions now, and not in response to a project proposal - is just a tremendous update for us," she said.

According to a statement from the White House, the Western Solar Plan streamlines the permitting process and allows the BLM flexibility in permitting. But the agency's actual need for solar development through 2045 is expected to use less than 2% of the 31 million-acre total, or about 700,000 acres.

As the BLM slows coal leasing in the West, Stuble said she hopes to see more moves to conserve wildlife in the energy transition, such as building on lands that have already been disturbed and areas near pre-existing transmission lines. She said she thinks the agency is headed in the right direction.

"The updated programmatic planning, I think, will take us many more steps closer to making sure that we're not siting solar in places that have really important community values, or ecological values." she said.

Stuble said those include lands popular for recreation, as well as those that are important or sacred to tribal nations. The plan is expected to be finalized by the end of this year.


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