July 2015 Visitation at Dinosaur Continues Upward Trend

Vehicles from across the United States nearly fill the Quarry Visitor Center parking lot in July.

NPS

News Release Date: August 10, 2015

Contact: Dan Johnson, Chief of Interpetation & Visitor Services, [phone]

Jensen, UT & Dinosaur, CO – July visitation numbers for Dinosaur National Monument show a 20% increase for the month over the 2014 July figures. Except for a slight dip in May, the first 7 months of 2015 have shown increases in visitation. As of July 30, recreational visits tallied a total of 183,048 – a 15.2% increase over the same time period in 2014.

Month	Recreational Visits 2015	Recreational Visits 2014	Change
January	3,868	2,354	+64.32%
February	4,354	2,788	+56.17%
March	10,001	6,387	+56.58
April	17,996	16,618	+8.29%
May	28,446	30,977	-8.17%
June	55,878	47,855	+16.8%
July	62,506	51,907	+20.4%
Total Year-to-Date	183,048	158,885	+15.2%

July is typically the monument's peak visitation month, followed by August, June, September and May. Visitation is typically lowest in January and February. Visitation statistics are calculated by using a combination of visitor center numbers, trail counters plus the actual number of wheeled vehicles entering the park gates and using a person-per-vehicle multiplier to calculate the number of monthly recreational visitors. Detailed park visitation information and additional information on how these statistics are calculated is available online at https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/Reports/Park/DINO.

Dinosaur is celebrating its 100^th Anniversary this year with a variety of events and activities from now through October. Event planning for the Centennial Weekend of October 3 is underway. Two highlights of the weekend will be a dinosaur themed 100^th birthday party for kids (or kids at heart) starting at 1:30 pm on Saturday, October 3 in the afternoon and a formal anniversary program that evening, beginning at 6:00 pm. Visit https://www.nps.gov/dino/planyourvisit/dino100.htm for more information on Centennial Activities.

"It has been a busy and exciting summer for us so far," stated Dinosaur National Monument Superintendent Mark Foust. "We are less than two months away from our 100^th anniversary weekend and we have already had lots of people participating in the various activities that have been going on throughout the summer. Our local communities and partner organizations continue to support us and the celebration. We hope people will come see what's happening in their park, whether they live nearby or across the country."

For more information, call [phone] or follow DinosaurNPS on social media.