If you thought Joshua Tree National Park was more crowded than ever last year, you were right. Managing editor Tami Roleff has the details on the park’s visitors…

More than 2.5 million people visited Joshua Tree National Park last year; 2,514,839 to be exact. That’s 500,000 more visitors than all of 2015.

While that’s good news for businesses in the Morongo Basin, the record crowds mean long entrance lines, full campgrounds, and congested parking. Park Superintendent David Smith said the high number of visitors are “loving the park to death” and are having a negative impact on the desert’s fragile ecosystem. In order to ease congestion, the park is planning future projects including additional entrance facilities, a new visitor center and a shuttle service in cooperation with the Morongo Basin Transit Authority. Park officials are also considering a “campsite by reservation only” program to help ease camping capacity issues.

Park officials recommend that visitors come early in the day and consider coming mid-week when possible, to avoid crowds. Campers are encouraged to consider reserving a private site out of the park or even camping on surrounding BLM lands.

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