Visitor Use Management Research

Visitor Use Monitoring

Why Monitor?

Glacier National Park has long realized the value of monitoring visitor use to help managers understand how the amount, timing, and location of recreational visitor use contributes to resource conditions and visitor experience in the park. Today, Glacier National Park is developing its own Visitor Use Management Program, with dedicated National Park Service staff leading a parkwide monitoring effort to study conditions on the park’s roadways, trails, and river systems.

Monitoring recreation use helps park managers understand trends over time. The information helps managers understand visitor experiences and resource impacts throughout the park. Analysis of the data informs management decisions regarding trail maintenance, patrols, wildlife management, and overall visitor experience.

 

Monitoring Highlights

2021-2023 Vehicle Reservation Pilots

Reservation System Pilots 

 In 2021, staffing shortages, increased visitation to the outdoors generally and northwest Montana specifically, and a request from the Montana Department of Transportation to ensure that traffic did not back up to US Highway 2 during construction prompted the National Park Service to take more assertive management action. Park managers piloted a reservation system for Going-to-the-Sun Road, ensuring that visitors to the park’s most popular area could have predictable access during the busiest hours of the day.

In addition to addressing the unique circumstances of the summer of 2021, the system provided visitors to the Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor with an improved experience that was generally less congested. Visitors unable to obtain an entry reservation were still able to access the park by seeking out other times of day, seasons, or destinations within the park. The National Park Service continued to pilot different reservation systems in the summers of 2022 and 2023.

Park managers have made changes to the program each year in response to feedback from the public and stakeholders, as well as lessons learned from robust data collection and park staff experiences. The following were changes made in the vehicle reservation pilots each year:

2021 Going-to-the-Sun Road Vehicle Reservation Pilot

The National Park Service implemented a vehicle reservation requirement for visitors to Going-to-the-Sun Road from May 27 to September 6, 2021, to better manage park visitation during periods of highest demand.

Visitors to Going-to-the-Sun Road obtained a vehicle reservation to enter the reservation area between 6 am and 5 pm. 

75 percent of reservations were sold 60 days in advance and 25 percent of reservations were sold 48 hours in advance.

The number of available vehicle reservations was based on targeting a typically busy day for Going-to-the-Sun Road in 2019. There were 135,086 "Going-to-the-Sun Road Entry Tickets" available to be booked on Recreation.gov in 2021.

Visitors with valid camping, lodging, or commercial service reservations could use their reservation in lieu of a vehicle reservation for entry.

The pilot redistributed use away from peak times of day, preventing gridlock conditions and the need for unplanned gate closures the reservation area.

2022 Going-to-the-Sun Road and North Fork Vehicle Reservation Pilot

During the 2022 pilot, the National Park Service implemented a vehicle reservation requirement for two park areas, Going-to-the-Sun Road from 6 am to 4 pm and the North Fork area of the park from 6 am to 6 pm, May 27 to September 11, 2022.

To incorporate new information gained from public feedback and monitoring data, the National Park Service made small adjustments to the reservation system for Going-to-the-Sun Road. For example, park managers altered the hours of the day when a reservation was needed, ending the reservation requirement at 4 pm in 2022. Park managers also adjusted the number of valid days for Going-to-the-Sun Road vehicle reservations from seven to three days to match visitor use pattern data. This shift enabled park staff to offer a greater number of reservations per day, providing more opportunities for visitors.

In 2022, the vehicle reservation check point for the east side of Going-to-the-Sun Road was relocated to Rising Sun, thereby providing visitors arriving to St. Mary the ability to access a visitor center, the park’s free shuttle, and other park amenities outside of the reservation area. 

The pilot vehicle reservation system was expanded to also include the North Fork area, an area that received spillover visitation from visitors unable to access Going-to-the-Sun Road during the reservation requirement in 2021. The North Fork area of the park is relatively undeveloped, with management goals to preserve its rustic quality. Consequently, the influx of visitation experienced in 2021 compromised the desired visitor experience and resource conditions.

In 2022, the National Park Service also adjusted booking windows to better align with visitor trip planning, an adjustment made with feedback received from stakeholders. Fifty percent of Going-to-the-Sun Road reservations were available 120 days in advance and 50 percent were available 24 hours in advance. For the North Fork area of the park, 30 percent of reservations were available 120 days in advance and 70 percent of reservations were available 24 hours in advance. 

There were 180,832 total vehicle reservations (169,456 for Going-to-the-Sun Road and 11,376 for North Fork) released in 2022. Like 2021, visitors with valid camping, lodging, or commercial service reservations could use their reservation in lieu of a vehicle reservation for entry to Going-to-the-Sun Road between 6 am and 4 pm. 

Like 2021, the vehicle reservation system for Going-to-the-Sun Road redistributed use away from peak times of day, preventing gridlock conditions and the need for unplanned gate closures for both vehicle reservation areas.

In the North Fork, visitation patterns were comparable to 2019, suggesting a return to visitation trends prior to the implementation of vehicle reservations for Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Like 2021, visitation increased during hours outside of the reservation period. However, these peaks were smaller than those experienced in 2021, in part due to a hard construction closure preventing entry before 6 am on the west side of Going-to-the-Sun Road. Notably, the average time of first parking lot fill at Logan Pass occurred later in the morning, between 7:30 and 8:30 am, likely due to constructure closure.

Visitation continued to increase in areas of the park without a vehicle reservation requirement. Temporary, unplanned gate closures were required to manage roadway crowding and congestion in Many Glacier (57 times) and Two Medicine (22 times). Closures often lasted for several hours.

2023 Going-to-the-Sun Road, North Fork, Two Medicine, and Many Glacier Vehicle Reservation Pilot

In 2023, the National Park Service made the decision to continue piloting vehicle reservations on Going-to-the-Sun Road and in the North Fork and to add Many Glacier and Two Medicine valleys. 

The decision to add these valleys was made based on review of data collected during the two previous years. Patterns showed an increased need to restrict traffic when parking capacity was surpassed in Many Glacier and Two Medicine.

Based on stakeholder feedback, park officials chose to limit the reservation period at Two Medicine, Many Glacier, and the St. Mary Entrance to Going-to-the-Sun Road to July 1 through September 10, 2023. The 2023 pilot vehicle reservation system continued to implement a vehicle reservation requirement for Going-to-the-Sun Road and the North Fork from May 26 to September 10, 2023.

To reduce visitor confusion, park managers chose a universal start and end time for all vehicle reservation areas. Park managers continued with a 6 am start time for all areas and decided to move the hours of the vehicle reservation period back another hour to 3 pm. This shift allowed the park to continue to learn about the ability to accommodate the spike in visitor demand for access after the reservation requirement ends and understand how operations are affected.

Like 2022, visitors to any vehicle reservation area without a reservation are able to visit outside of the reservation period. Visitors arriving to St. Mary have the ability to access a visitor center, the park’s free shuttle, and other park amenities outside of Going-to-the-Sun Road reservation area.

In 2023, a block release method for advance reservations was used to align booking experiences at Glacier National Park with other parks piloting similar management tools as a visitor use management tool.

Booking windows were also adjusted to incorporate differences of visitation trends before and after Going-to-the-Sun Road fully opens. Before the opening of Going-to-the-Sun Road, forty percent of reservations for this area were available 120 days in advance and 60 percent were available 24 hours in advance. After the opening, fifty percent of Going-to-the-Sun Road reservations were available 120 days in advance and 50 percent were available 24 hours in advance. For the North Fork, Many Glacier, and Two Medicine, 30 percent of reservations were available 120 days in advance and 70 percent were available 24-hour advance.

Analysis of 2023 visitor experience and resource condition data is still ongoing for all managed access areas of the park. In 2023, the park is tracking vehicle arrival and departure patterns, estimating the number of vehicles in a reservation area at one-time, monitoring trail use, and tracking parking availability. New data collection efforts in 2023 include a visitor travel pattern study of visitors to Going-to-the-Sun Road and scanning vehicle reservations at entry check points to determine utilization rates.

 

 

Listen to a conversation with Dr. Susie Sidder, Glacier’s Visitor Use Management Program Manager, as she describes how visitation has changed and how managed access systems help address some of the related issues. Listen to the episode in full .