This is part of a series of forward-looking predictions for 2025. Read more.
Following a major election cycle, record visitation, budget woes and landmark legal actions, 2025 will be an interesting year for Utah’s public lands.
Permits in national parks
The National Park Service (NPS) manages 13 areas within Utah, including six national monuments, one national recreation area, one national historical park and five national parks. These areas received more than 15.6 million visits in 2023, and 2024 will likely record comparable — or higher — numbers.
As visitation remains high, managers face challenges protecting the unique resources and values of these areas while providing opportunities for high quality experiences. Impacts to park resources, traffic congestion, strains on park infrastructure, crowding and difficulty reaching desired destinations are some results of high visitation in parks.
There are four basic strategies for managing outdoor recreation: increasing the supply (e.g. constructing new trails or parking); reducing the impact of use (e.g. dispersing use); increasing the durability of resources (e.g. developing facilities); and limiting use (e.g. restricting the amount or type of use). In most cases, managers typically choose less restrictive actions first and limit use only after prior efforts have not been successful in limiting impacts or improving visitor safety and experience.
Recently, two Utah national parks have implemented actions to limit use to protect park resources and improve visitor experience and safety. Arches National Park began requiring reservations to enter the park in 2022. Referred to as “timed entry,” these reservations allow park visitors to enter the park during a specified period. Once inside the park, visitors can travel throughout and leave at any time. Arches gathered data and public feedback during timed entry pilots in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and have proposed a Visitor Access and Experience Plan based on those results. The pilot will continue through 2025.
In 2022, Zion National Park began a pilot permit system for Angels Landing, a popular hike in the park. Permits are available through a seasonal or day before lottery, and are intended to improve visitor safety, reduce congestion on the trail, and provide a better visitor experience. Zion is in the process of developing a Visitor Use Management plan, and evaluating a number of potential management strategies.
The use of timed entry and permit systems has expanded in parks and other recreation areas, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. If visitation continues to rise, we will likely see more areas requiring reservations to enter or access popular destinations.
Understaffed national forests
The USDA Forest Service announced in September it would not hire seasonal employees — outside of wildland fire — for the 2025 season due to budget constraints. While Congress has yet to vote on the FY 2025 federal budget, the agency is anticipating receiving far less than it requested.
While the decision will not reduce the agency’s ability to respond to wildfires, it will affect the 9 million acres across five national forests within the state. Typically, the Forest Service hires temporary seasonal employees to support operations and research in a variety of areas, including recreation and biological sciences. Seasonal employees play a significant role in the Forest Service’s ability to achieve its mission. Without these employees, important work like trail and campground maintenance and inventories to monitor forest and resource health may go undone.
The hiring freeze will also impact jobs. The Forest Service hired more than 2,500 non-fire and 11,000 firefighting seasonal employees in 2024. While approximately 1,400 temporary positions have been converted to permanent seasonal positions, the freeze will still mean fewer available jobs. Seasonal work is an important path to permanent jobs, allowing “prospective employees to get their foot in the door and gain valuable work experience.” The freeze could affect young professionals pursuing a career with the Forest Service.
Land transfer
On August 20, the state of Utah filed a lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether an agency of the federal government can hold “unappropriated lands within a State indefinitely.” The lands in question are approximately 18.5 million acres administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The lawsuit excludes approximately 4.3 million acres of “appropriated” lands designated as national monuments, wilderness areas, conservation areas or other official designations. Utah passed legislation in 2012 seeking the transfer of title to federal public lands — excluding areas managed by the NPS and designated wilderness areas — from the United States to the state by December 31, 2014.
If the U.S. Supreme Court accepts the lawsuit, the decision will have far-reaching implications for federal lands, particularly in the West, where 12 other states have signed on to the lawsuit. If the Supreme Court upholds federal management of land without a specific special planning designation, Utah and other states could effectively be blocked from future efforts to acquire land from the BLM except through purchase or land swaps. If the Supreme Court decides otherwise, it sets a major precedent for federal land management and leaves the future of 18.5 million acres of land in Utah — and millions more across the West — up to state lawmakers.
(Kelly Goonan,) Kelly Goonan, Ph.D., is a tenured associate professor of outdoor recreation in parks and tourism at Southern Utah University.
Kelly Goonan, Ph.D., is a tenured associate professor of outdoor recreation in parks and tourism at Southern Utah University. These statements are based on her expertise and are not official statements or positions of her employer.
The Salt Lake Tribune is committed to creating a space where Utahns can share ideas, perspectives and solutions that move our state forward. We rely on your insight to do this. Find out how to share your opinion here, and email us at voices@sltrib.com.
