Dry spring boosts tourism

Montana State Parks are on a roll.

Visitation to places like Wayfarers State Park in Bigfork is up 21 percent from 2014 for the first six months of 2015.

In the first six months of 2015, Montana’s state parks saw over 1 million visits, compared to 850,000 visits at this time last year. For June 2015, visitation was more than 385,000; a 23 percent increase from 2014.

Some of the increase in visitation can be attributed to the mild winter and dry spring, which brought people out to enjoy the parks earlier in the season than usual.

“Our June weather is typically rainy and cool, and we have a lot of open availability for camping,” Amy Grout, Flathead Lake District Park Manager, said. “This year, we had July-like weather in June. Folks took advantage of it and the campgrounds filled up early.”

In addition to busier state campgrounds, day-use areas have also been full as visitors try to beat the heat with a picnic in the shade or some water-based fun.

“We’ve had weekends where our day-use parking areas was so full that people had to park outside and walk in,” said Grout. “I can’t remember that happening before.”

The high visitation experienced by Montana State Parks has also been seen at Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park. Glacier Park’s May visitation was up 20 percent and Yellowstone has reported a 24 percent increase in its visitation from 2014.

While this year’s uncommonly warm weather has had an impact, it is not the only thing driving visitors to state parks. Outdoor recreation is on the rise in Montana.  Over the last decade, Montana State Parks visitation is up 25 percent.