Visitor Access Management Plan

Traffic at a standstill on crowded Yosemite Valley roadways.

 

 

Overview

Ensuring world class experiences, a welcoming environment for all visitors, and protection of nationally significant resources is Yosemite National Park’s primary and daily focus. Due to an increase in day-use visitation and changing use patterns, providing for and managing visitor use has been an increasingly complex issue that impacts both park resources and the visitor experience.

The purpose of this plan is to evaluate how different management strategies, including reservation systems, could help meet long-term resource and visitor experience goals. This will be accomplished by engaging in a transparent civic and stakeholder engagement process to discuss and identify key issues and opportunities.

The park also plans to build on lessons learned during the reservation systems from 2020-2022, while considering a range of strategies to address crowding and congestion and improve the visitor experience and resource conditions within the park. We piloted reservation systems for the last three summers. In 2020 and 2021, the park piloted a reservation system due to the pandemic. In 2022, the park implemented a “peak hours” reservation system due to extensive construction that was going on throughout the park. Data gathered during this three-year period will help inform park management on a range of alternatives to provide for the highest quality visitor access in the future. 

 

Key Issues

This plan is needed to address a wide range of issues associated with persistently high visitation. These issues include but are not limited to:

• Road and parking congestion that delays emergency response and causes unsafe conditions for visitors and staff.
• Long waits at entrances that detract from positive visitor experiences.
• Insufficient numbers of staff responding to intense use and maintenance of facilities.
• Vegetation impacts from non-designated parking.
• Human waste along roads and turnouts and in parking lots.

Planning Process and Timeline

The initial public comment period for the Visitor Access Management Plan was December 9, 2022–February 3, 2023. This was the first phase of a three-phase process during this planning effort. The anticipated schedule for project milestones and additional opportunities for public review and input are as follows:

Phase 1 (Tentative Dates: October 2022–July 2023):

• Define purpose and need

• Document existing conditions, review data from previous studies

• Civic Engagement with public stakeholders on issues and values (December 2022 through February 2023)

• Explore desired conditions

• Determine relevant indicators and thresholds

Phase 2 (Tentative Dates: Summer 2023–May 2024):

• Explore viable concepts and strategies

• Civic Engagement with public stakeholders on draft strategies (Summer 2023)

• Assemble concepts and strategies into preliminary alternatives

• Preliminary impact analysis

Phase 3 (Tentative Dates: May 2024–December 2024):

• Confirm alternatives for analysis

• Develop draft plan and initiate compliance

• Public and stakeholder review of draft plan (tentatively fall 2024)

• Complete formal consultation and compliance

• Finalize plan and decision documentation

 

Public Outreach

Engaging with the public is an important part of this planning process and is essential when exploring management alternatives.

Public Engagement

This past winter we invited you to join us in envisioning the future of accessing Yosemite National Park. Your feedback was instrumental in helping the planning team develop the preliminary strategies presented below. These strategies aim to provide safe and efficient park access and high-quality experiences to visitors while ensuring protection of park resources and values. During summer 2023 we invited you to provide comments and thoughts on the draft preliminary strategies. During each comment period we held a virtual public meeting and recordings of each can be found below.

Public Meetings

• Phase 2: During the second phase of this planning effort we held a virtual public meeting on July 19, 2023, at which park staff and planners provided an overview of the potential strategies, described how to provide public comments, and hosted a question-and-answer session.

• Phase 1: During the first phase of this planning effort we held a virtual public meeting on January 17, 2023, at which park staff provided an overview of the planning process, described how to provide public comments, and hosted a question-and-answer session.

EVENT	DATE	TIME
Virtual Public Meeting	Wednesday, July 19, 2023	4:00 pm to 5:30 pm PT
Virtual Public Meeting	Tuesday, January 17, 2023	4:00 pm to 5:30 pm PT

Your input will help refine these preliminary options for further analysis. We are seeking your responses to the following questions:

1. Based on your desired conditions for resources and experiences (how you arrive and visit the park), which of the listed strategies (or combination of strategies) do you think best achieve the purpose of the plan?
2. Are there other strategies or changes to listed strategies that should be considered and analyzed that are not already presented?

Meeting Recordings (Videos)

 

• 

  Visitor Access Management Plan - Virtual Public Meeting: July 19, 2023

  On July 19, 2023, Yosemite hosted the second public meeting for the Visitor Access Management Plan. This is a recording of the meeting in which the public was able to learn more about the plan, possible strategies for visitor management, and how to get involved and comment during the planning process.

  Duration:

  1 hour, 27 minutes, 10 seconds

 

• 

  Visitor Access Management Plan - Virtual Public Meeting: January 17, 2023

  On January 17, 2023, Yosemite hosted the first public meeting for the Visitor Access Management Plan. This is a recording of the meeting in which the public was able to learn about the plan and how to get involved in the planning process.

  Duration:

  1 hour 34 minutes

 

Potential Strategies to Manage Visitor Access

The visitor access management planning team has been developing potential strategies for management based on public and stakeholder input and feedback from all levels of the National Park Service. These strategies are designed to help protect Yosemite’s fundamental resources and values and improve visitor access and opportunities.

For each of these strategies, we are currently evaluating:

• Viability. How this strategy will help us resolve key issues in the congested areas; how this strategy will help us meet project goals.

• Feasibility. How much this strategy will cost and the potential source of funding, including whether user fees would be required; what resources will be needed to implement this strategy (for example, staffing, facilities, and funding).

• Desirability. When and where this strategy would be most useful; how much this strategy would improve visitor experience and resource conditions and whether there will be any tradeoffs such as additional fees or wait-times to access the park.

No single solution will meet all project goals and resolve all issues. We are evaluating strategies individually and in combination to identify the best ways to meet overarching goals. We are seeking your feedback on the management options described below as a part of our evaluation.

Implement Reservation Systems

Issue/Opportunity: There is an opportunity to improve the safety and flow of traffic at entrance stations, along roadways, and in parking areas. Some individuals and stakeholders have encouraged the National Park Service to consider reservations and other timed-entry systems to better manage vehicle distribution and flow. Welldesigned reservation systems have improved the quality of visitor experiences, distributed use across time and space, and served as a useful trip-planning tool for visitors on public lands and recreational resources where this strategy has been implemented.

Potential Strategies:

• Daily reservations at entrances during peak hours (such as the summer 2022 peak hours pilot system).

• Parking lot reservations for specific areas (such as the Tuolumne Meadows area) or specific lots (such as the Yosemite Falls parking lot).

• Daily reservations at entrances for events (such as Horsetail Falls).

• Timed entry at entrances (visitors must enter the park within the time window specified under the permit, such as 8 am to noon or noon to 4 pm).

• Your ideas?

Enhance Trip Planning

Issue/Opportunity: Trip planning and travel forecasting tools help improve visitor experiences by giving visitors information when and where they need it to make informed choices about visiting the park.

Potential Strategies:

• Improve availability of visitor orientation and information such as traffic forecasts, parking space availability, best times to visit, and current conditions prior to visiting the park.

• Increase trip planning information to inform visitor expectations. Examples of trip-planning tools include the park website and app, social media, virtual ranger programs, and park partnerships to disseminate information.

• Improve technology (including internal and external internet connectivity) and information collection throughout the park to inform forecasting and the potential availability of realtime traffic/parking information for visitors.

• Your ideas?

Upgrade and Modernize Entrance Stations

Issue/Opportunity: Congestion at entrance stations impact park visitors, staff, and residents in surrounding areas including El Portal, Wawona, Yosemite West, and Foresta. Congestion (wait times and lines) at entrance stations results in visitor frustration, stress on park staff, and incidences of human waste at pull-offs.

Potential Strategies:

• Relocate Arch Rock entrance to an area that is wider and able to accommodate more vehicles.

• Relocate or reconfigure Tioga Pass entrance to improve flows through this entrance station.

• Evaluate opportunities for streamlined access to the park (such as contactless entry).

• Your ideas?

Expand Bicycle and Pedestrian Options

Issue/Opportunity: Current options for travel that does not depend on private vehicles in the park are limited and could be improved to increase safety. There is an opportunity to expand access to travel that does not depend on private vehicle access in the park in order to promote carbon-free transportation, encourage active transportation (such as bicycling and walking), and reduce vehicular congestion.

Potential Strategies:

• Expand bicycle and pedestrian routes in developed frontcountry areas.

• Delineate areas specifically for bicycle use to reduce conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians.

• Build pedestrian overpasses to reduce conflicts with vehicles.

• Your ideas?

Improve Transit and Shuttle Opportunities

Issue/Opportunity: While the current shuttle system helps transport visitors to their desired destinations in the valley, it does not adequately meet visitation demand when the park operates without a reservation system. When shuttles are full, visitors drive their own vehicles around the park to avoid long waits, which further contributes to congestion on roadways and in parking lots. Any potential changes to shuttle systems in the park would involve a robust feasibility assessment due to significant operating costs.

Potential Strategies:

• Expand regional connectivity by partnering with local businesses (such as hotel shuttles or other commercial shuttles).

• Optimize Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System (YARTS) connectivity.

• Expand park-and-ride options.

• Explore options for rideshare opportunities.

• Your ideas?

Update Infrastructure

Issue/Opportunity: High visitation strains existing infrastructure and facilities. There is opportunity to update and modernize existing infrastructure and evaluate the need for new infrastructure to better meet the changing needs of the park.

Potential Strategies:

• Provide opportunities for enhanced visitor experiences in underutilized areas such as Crane Flat and Badger Pass.

• Analyze current parking use and allocate overnight and day-use parking to better meet visitor needs.

• Analyze the amount of housing, staff, and facilities needed to support a positive visitor experience.

• Your ideas?

 

Documents

Summer 2023 Newsletter [1.9 MB PDF]

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is this plan needed?  

The park has seen increasing impacts to natural and cultural resources, diminished quality of visitor experiences, increased visitor and staff safety concerns, and a heavy strain on the park’s facilities and ability to perform daily operations. The National Park Service (NPS) believes that managed access and related strategies are needed in high-demand areas where other strategies have not been sufficient to ensure high-quality experiences, visitor safety, and resource protection.  

How will the plan be developed? 

This process will leverage the park’s extensive planning, including previously identified capacities for many areas of the park and related infrastructure updates (e.g. intersection realignments, meadow protection curbing, parking additions, and circulation improvements). This process will consider key issues related to visitor experiences, natural and cultural resource protection, and vehicular crowding and congestion. The planning process will provide recommendations for supporting high-quality public access to the park while providing positive visitor experiences and protection of natural and cultural resources into the future.  

When will public input occur? 

The first round of public input occurred from December 9, 2022 to February 3, 2023. This first series gathered public and community feedback about strategies for managing visitor access in order to inform this process. The second of multiple opportunities over the planning process for the public and stakeholders to share input on how Yosemite should, if at all, manage access in the future will begin on July 6, 2023. The second round of public involvement will solicit ideas on draft management concepts that were developed following the December public involvement. We are committed to a transparent civic and stakeholder engagement process. When it comes to visitor use management decisions at NPS, we know that engagement is about mobilizing people to do the hard work of making change—together. Yosemite is committed to engaging with all stakeholders—including gateway communities, partners, members of the public, and state, local, and tribal governments —to identify solutions, and to conduct compliance and planning processes. 

What is managed access? 

Managed access is a suite of tools that help pace the timing and volume of visitation into areas to optimize access, ensure quality experiences, and protect resources. Examples of managed access include reservation systems, timed and ticketed entry, campground reservations, and more. Some examples of managed access strategies that have been in place for many years include wilderness and Half Dome permits. Managed access and related strategies are not a standalone solution. This plan will carefully evaluate many different tools and techniques that would be most effective to help Yosemite improve how visitors get to and experience the park’s significant resources and features.     

Why are peak hours reservations for day use not in place for Summer 2023?

After three consecutive years of summer day-use reservation programs, the park announced in Fall 2022 that it does not plan to implement a temporary day-use reservation system in summer 2023. In 2022 there were notable changes to both parking and roadway flows were being built and implemented. By allowing for an unconstrained level of visitation to access the park it allows the NPS to observe and test the efficacy of those changes and document if/what issues still persist after the implementation of these parking lot and roadway configuration changes. No decisions have been made about potential reservation pilots for 2024.

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