Montana State Parks visitation sets records

In 2020, Montana State Parks saw an increase of almost 25% in the number of visitors compared to the same time period last year. Parks experienced around 3,000,000 visitors between January and September.

Around 80% of Montana State Parks saw increased visitation throughout the year with eight parks exceeding 100,000 visitors.

"These visitation increases represent the busiest summer on record for the State Park system," FWP Director Martha Williams said in a press release. "FWP staff, volunteers, and AmeriCorps members went above and beyond to keep these sites open, and to safely host visitors in the face of the pandemic. Countless families and visitors to Montana had memorable park visits this summer, and we hope their positive experiences will keep them coming back to enjoy the great recreational and cultural opportunities stewarded by Montana State Parks."

The top five most visited parks between January and September were: 

1. Flathead Lake State Park (all units), Flathead Lake - 439,298 visitors (up 33.5%)

2. Cooney Reservoir State Park, Roberts - 330,730 visitors (up 26%)

3. Giant Springs State Park, Great Falls - 312,655 visitors (down -0.2%)

4. Lake Elmo State Park, Billings - 206,091 visitors (up 25.7%)

5. Thompson Chain of Lakes State Park, Libby - 155,483 visitors (up 42.5%)

Overall Region 2 saw the highest increase across the state going from 288,556 visitors in 2019 to 421,744 visitors in 2020, a 46.2% increase. Placid Lake State Park had the highest visitation in the region with an estimated 84,922 visitors, a 36% increase compared to last year. Salmon Lake State Park saw a 42.9% increase going from 48,966 visitors in 2019 to 69,980 visitors in 2020.

Ryan Sokoloski, park manager for Placid Lake, Salmon Lake and Beavertail Hill State Parks, said he personally saw a clear increase in the number of visitors during the day. Because the parks do not separate the number of day users from campers, overnight use appeared to be about the same while day use seemingly increased.

"For the past 10 years, on almost any night of the week, the campground is 100% filled," Sokoloski said. "We were always full before so we didn't really notice any more overnight campers, just a substantial increase in day users."

Concerned locals frequently asked him if people outside the region were leaving their locations and potentially spreading COVID-19 to the area. However, he said he mostly saw familiar faces.

"This past summer, it kind of was actually comforting to a lot of the local people when I said, 'Honestly, we're seeing very little difference in ... who [is] coming and where they're coming from,'" Sokoloski said. "The reason for that is you can make a reservation six months in advance for a campsite. ... The people that are overwhelmingly making those reservations [in advance] are people who've been camping with us a long time."

He estimates that return campers made up greater than 85% of overnight visitors this past summer mostly coming from surrounding communities within Montana. 

Sokoloski did not anticipate a large influx of visitors but he knew that the parks and individual outdoor recreation in general would play a crucial role in offering an alternative to typical summer group activities like team sports.

"I knew when [COVID] really started to get bad that ... this is our chance to deliver a product, whatever that product is, whether it's an opportunity to hike on a trail, to go camping, to go boating, to just say, 'I need to get away from people, so I'm going to take my son and a fishing pole and I'm going to drive to Placid Lake State Park,'" he said. "I anticipated that we would be important or critical for people's mental and physical wellbeing because we were the only show in town."

Sokoloski said the parks really benefited from locals who used to visit them regularly but forgot about them over the years.

"The benefits, I believe, is going to come from the people who have loved us all along, through it all, they just forgot," he said.

On the other hand, he said the park experienced numerous visitors in their adult years who had never been to a state or national park before.

"There are people that were born and raised right here in Seeley Lake, Montana, 30-40 years old, and they've never been to Placid Lake State Park," he said. "I'm not saying how many. I don't know that, but I know that there are."

Sokoloski said the biggest challenge park staff faced with the increased visitation was keeping up with the cleaning procedures. Aside from additional sanitation procedures, tasks included sweeping floors, restocking toilet paper, cleaning glass and picking up litter.

"Our park operations were really the same, we were just doing a lot more of it," he said. "We had a lot more latrine use ... and we had the responsibility of cleaning those."

For COVID precautions, staff had to wear masks and maintain a social distance from the general public. Sanitization procedures in the restrooms included sanitizing doorknobs and fogging air with alcohol-based ingredients.

Unfortunately staff numbers have not increased since last year resulting in increased demand against the same number of personnel. Given the limited personnel resources, Sokoloski still believes his staff was "incredible."

"I was very fortunate this year," he said. "We had if not the best, one of the best teams of employees this year than I've ever had since I've been here."

For more information on the 2020 Q3 State Park Visitation report call Kyan Bishop at (406) 444-3364. The complete visitation report is available at https://www.seeleylake.com/home/customer_files/article_documents/2020_montana_state_parks_q3_visitation_update.pdf