For the benefit and enjoyment of the people; who are the people benefiting and enjoying Yellowstone National Park?
#whostheweatYNP
Demographics of the United States:
With 323,543,308 people in the United States as of May 2016, why did only 4,095,317 people, about 1% of the population, visit the park in 2015? Is it a question of money, time, physical inability, health issues, weather, distance, or do people just not want to visit America’s First National Park? With an entrance fee anywhere from fifteen to thirty dollars, it’s not an entrance fee that will break the bank for people in surrounding states that are only a short drive away. But still, people in surrounding states such as Montana, Utah, Idaho, South Dakota, and Nebraska have never traveled into the boundaries of Yellowstone. California being the leading state population of 40 million people in The United States and only two states away from Wyoming, you’d think there would be more visitors to the park each year. The typical U.S. worker at a private company gets 10 days of paid vacation and six paid holidays per year, why isn’t the typical U.S. worker using those days to go to Yellowstone? Who is the typical American?
An SRS published in 2014 by the University of Montana-Missoula analyzed the demographics of Yellowstone National Park visitors. Factors that were analyzed included: mean age, state of residence, household income, and level of education. The average age of Yellowstone visitors was 56 years old, the trend of an aging population has been seen at all national parks across America. 35.4% of respondents have attained a Bachelor’s degree and 38.7% have a post-graduate level degree. More than 60% of the respondents had a household income between $50,000 and $150,000 resulting in an average household income that is higher than the national average of $51,000. The top five sates that visitors reside in are: Montana, California, Texas, Colorado, and Washington.
Obstacles are one of the main factors that play into individuals visiting Yellowstone National Park. Accessibility to the park isn’t always ideal either. Many individuals are effected by issues such as limited wheelchair access areas, impaired hearing and vision, overall health issues, and much more. As described by the National Park Services, “Extra obstacles will be encountered because of the remote, wilderness nature of this special place”. In addition to physical barriers that could prevent individuals from visiting the park, money and phobias can factor in as an obstacle as well. The fee to enter the park is varied by vehicle and the amount of people per vehicle. If you are a private, non- commercial vehicle it’s 30 dollars, motorcycle or snowmobile is 25 dollars, individuals by foot, or bicycle is 15 dollars per person under 16 and 20 dollars per person older than 16. The entrance fee is for a seven – day pass. For commercial tour buses, 1-6 seats are 25 dollars with an additional 15 dollars per person. A van with 7-15 seats is 125 dollars, a mini bus with 16-25 seats is 200 dollars, and a motor coach with 26 or more seats is 300 dollars. With the National Park being 3,472 square miles, someone with a walking disability is going to have a much harder time getting around the park. Having a phobia could also prevent an individual from coming to the park whether their phobia is the fear of flying from state to state, driving across the country, being at extreme heights and altitudes, or just an overall increased anxiety from a lack of safety in a different environment. Regardless of whether it’s a physical, materialistic, or emotional obstacle there are multiple obstacles that can prevent someone from experiencing the beauty and adventure that Yellowstone National Park has to hold.
Cites you can access the information above from:
http://www.yellowstone.co/stats.htm
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/dashboard/PST045215/00
https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/accessibility.htm
https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/parkfacts.htm
https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/fees.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/19/us/im-national-parks-older-visitors-morgan-spurlock/
http://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1297&context=itrr_pubs
I like that you looked at the demographics of the United States when a dressing the “we” at YNP. Before reading your article it would not habe occured to me that the average age of park attendance would be that old or based on education level. I would be interested in looking at the ratio of American to international tourists. To me the international tourists were more memorable because we heard so many languages aside from English being spoken. Also, was the age distribution among different nationalities similar or different?
While at the park, I definitely saw that the age of the visitors were typically older people. It makes you wonder why more youth aren’t visiting here. Also, I find it interesting that Texas is included in the list of states with the most visitors but somewhere closer, such as Idaho, is not.