Officials with the National Park Service are finding a new trend for visitors at parks across the country, including our own Joshua Tree National Park. According to new figures, just released by the Park Service, more people are visiting U.S. National Parks, including Joshua Tree, but they’re spending much less time in the parks. Attendance at Joshua Tree National Park jumped 22 percent from 1991 to 2011, from 1,145,458 in ’91 to 1,396,237 in 2011. The number of overnight stays in the park also went up 12 percent in the ten year period. Of interest is a dramatic drop in the time visitors spend in the Park. The figures show that actual visitor hours spent in the park, even with increased visitorship, dropped 46.4 percent in the same period.
