By SAMUEL BLATCHFORD
Capital News Service
LANSING — The COVID-19 pandemic has motivated people to enjoy the outdoors, and that led to logistical problems last year as national parks in Michigan were flooded with far more visitors than normal.
And the crowds are expected to be large again this summer, park officials say.
Campsites for July and August have already sold out at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on the Leelanau Peninsula.
In 2020, over 2.9 million people visited the two most popular national parks in the state, Sleeping Bear Dunes and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula, National Park Service figures show.
“People were looking for safe things to do. They were looking at outdoor activities.” said Merrith Baughman, the public information officer at Sleeping Bear Dunes.
She said the park hosted a lot of new people who gave camping a try in 2020.
Pictured Rocks had a difficult time keeping up with its increased number of visitors, said Susan Reece, the park’s chief of interpretation and education.
Pictured Rocks visitation numbers rose 41% in 2020 compared with the previous year.
Meanwhile, Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior saw a 75% decrease in visitation from 2019 to 2020.
Liz Valencia, Isle Royale’s manager of interpretation and cultural resources, said the decline was caused by lack of transportation to the island because ferry service was shut down due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Reece said that more visitors and lack of planning strained resources at Pictured Rocks.
“Many people in the area arrived with no plans on where they are going to stay.” Reece added, “Campgrounds, motel and cabins were reserved far out in advance.”
Reece said that led many people to illegally camp and not properly dispose of trash and human waste, straining the park’s budget and staff. That added extra expenses to pump the outhouses and dispose of trash.
Visitors illegally slept in their cars.
Parking was a problem as well. Trailhead parking lots were full, and many drivers illegally parked on the roadsides, blocking traffic, Reece said.
Reece and Baughman said their budgets haven’t expanded to accommodate the need for more staff and services.
Rather, park officials had to come up with ways to serve visitors with limited resources.
This year, for example, Pictured Rocks frontline park rangers will help cover custodial duties, Reece said.
Hiring more staff is out of the question.
“We can’t do a whole lot about hiring more people. We just don’t have the funding,” Reece said.
As for crowded campgrounds, Reece said the local community in Munising has added private campgrounds and lodging opportunities outside the park since 2016 to accommodate visitors.