Visitation Up At Utah State Parks
Goosencks of the San Juan State Park - photo by Dave Webb |
Utah's state
parks are popular playgrounds for locals, but most are off the
radar for tourists. That's unfortunate because they offer outstanding
opportunities for recreation, sightseeing, wildlife viewing and
educational activities.
At the risk of seeming smug, I dare say
some of Utah's state parks would be national
parks, were they located in any other state. But here, where
there is so much much natural beauty, they are often overlooked.
State Park officials continue to
proactively promote these areas. They recently released this
innovative Digital
Field Guide Brochure, which provides great info about each park.
The Salt Lake Tribune has this
good article by Brett Prettyman describing how park visitation is
showing strong growth. He talks about interesting programs that are
popular some lesser-known parks. Below are excerpts.
The state agency
reported a 5.78 percent jump in visitation from 2011 to 2012 with
more than 5 million visits last year, up from 4.8 million the
previous year.
parks dominated
visitation in 2012, but Hays said he is impressed with the growth in
smaller "community-type" parks and even museums.
The Territorial
Statehouse State Park Museum in Fillmore is a good example. The park
has experienced phenomenal growth the past two years: 156 percent
from 2010 to 2011 and an additional 28 percent last year.
The camps take
participants back to the 1860s. Campers build cabins using "giant
Lincoln Logs" and learn things like rope- and candle-making,
weaving, quilting and cooking using a woodstove.
– Dave Webb
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