State Parks See Steady Visitation For 2020
Montana State Parks recorded 1.4 million visitors from January through June of this year. Compared with same time period last year, visitation increased by 25.4 percent. While visitation increased at nearly 80 percent of state parks across Montana, there were several parks that experienced a drop-in visitation due to facility closures, as well as the lack of school field trips and group activities attributable to COVID-19.
“Montana is fortunate to have these opportunities and FWP is committed to making sure they are available for visitors across Montana, especially during a time of uncertainty,” said Beth Shumate, division administrator for Montana State Parks. “The state park system provides incredible opportunities which can foster invaluable mental and physical health benefits. Through our numerous cultural and historical parks, visitors can also enjoy a wide range of educational and interpretive opportunities both in-person and now virtually. Our staff and volunteers have gone above and beyond to ensure that parks have remained open for all during this unprecedented pandemic, meeting expectations, interests, and needs of communities and citizens across the state.”
The top five most visited parks between January and June of this year were Giant Springs State Park in Great Falls with 199,774 visits (up 7.1 percent), followed by Flathead Lake State Park and Flathead Lake with 159,640 visits (up 29.6 percent), Cooney Reservoir State Park with 149,650 visits (up 39.9 percent), Lake Elmo State Park, Billings, with 120,747 visits (up 50.7 percent) and Spring Meadow Lake State Park, Helena, with 79,659 visits (up 29.5 percent).
Makoshika State Park had the highest visitation in the region with an estimated 58,470 visits, an increase of 59.3 percent over the same time period last year.
