You Can’t Get In

National Parks

“Der Campingplatz ist voll,” which is to say the campground is full. And that’s all day, every day from mid-March to mid-October at Arches National Park near Moab, Utah.

Ever-popular with travelers from afar and Europeans in particular, the park sports a permanent placard at its main entrance informing visitors daily in numerous languages that all 53 campsites ahead are taken.

To get one, you have to get in line the night before.

It’s one symptom of a supply-and-demand crisis that America’s national parks are less accessible than ever before.

Arches is a microcosm of a system overrun and underfunded, its infrastructure crumbling and its staff dwindling in recent years even as visitation sets new records.

Another notable sign of the troubled times: The ranger in the Smoky Bear hat approaches extinction, pushed onto the endangered-species list by the new, frugal Washington. Indeed, only one ranger is on duty at any given time in Arches, which covers 73,000 acres inside a 54-mile border. Campfire programs are held only once a week.

“If something doesn’t change by next year, we’re really going to see some big-time changes around here,” said Walt Dabney, superintendent of the Moab area’s three Park Service attractions - Arches, Canyonlands National Parks and Natural Bridges National Monument.

Only through creative accounting did Arches open its sole campground this year, and the park’s budget for seasonal employees was shot almost before anybody was hired.

When Arches became a national park in 1971, it counted 202,895 visitors. By 1985, the number had risen to 363,464. Last year it was 859,372.