Nature-Based Recreation: Understanding Campsite Reservations in National Parks

The government’s reservation system for activities on federal lands, Recreation.gov, is a rich source of data that can help shed light on managing the growing number of visitors to national parks.

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Date

Nov. 29, 2018

Authors

Margaret A. Walls, Casey Wichman, and Kevin Ankney

Publication

Report

Reading time

1 minute

Key findings

Campgrounds in many national parks are filled to capacity during the peak seasons but there is variability across the parks by season and day of week.
This variability suggests some room for improvements in fee structures and other ways of managing use.
Campsite reservations at most national parks are made far in advance, but many reservations are canceled at the last minute; increasing cancellation penalties may improve the efficiency of the reservation system.
Campers tend to visit national parks near their homes and stay only two nights; longer trips are rare.
The distribution of incomes of campers appears to be similar to the US population as a whole.

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Topics

Authors

Margaret A. Walls

Senior Fellow

Margaret Walls is a senior fellow at RFF. Her current research focuses on issues related to resilience and adaptation to extreme events, ecosystem services, and conservation, parks and public lands.

Casey J. Wichman

University Fellow

Casey Wichman is a university fellow at RFF. He performs research at the intersection of environmental and public economics, with an emphasis on examining the ways in which individuals make decisions in response to environmental policies.

Kevin Ankney

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