National Park Visitor Numbers Affected By Pollution Concerns
Saturday, July 21st, 2018 -- 9:34 AM
(AP) -Visitors appear to be steering clear of some U.S. national parks or cutting visits short because of pollution levels that are comparable to what's found in major cities, according to a study released Wednesday.Researchers at Iowa State and Cornell universities looked at more than two decades of data on ozone pollution at 33 parks - from Shenandoah to Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. They say visitor numbers dropped almost 2 percent when ozone levels went up even slightly and by at least 8 percent in months with three or more days of high ozone levels compared with months with fewer days of high ozone. Study co-author Ivan Rudik said air quality warnings issued by parks and other government agencies may be causing the visitation drop. That's consistent with previous research on so-called avoidance behavior in response to pollution alerts in other settings.
The study sought to control for seasonal variations and daily changes in the weather. The study, published in the journal Science Advances, comes as national parks have seen record numbers of visitors in recent years despite concerns over pollution.
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