Zion Park crowds: Comments due August 14

In 1909, President Taft used the Antiquities Act to designate Mukuntu-Weap National Monument in southwest Utah—the place we now know as Zion National Park. The park is a national treasure, but it’s too popular. Over the past 10 years, visitation at Zion National Park has increased 60%, to 4.3 million visitors in 2016 and a mind-boggling 90,000 visitors on the past Memorial Day weekend.

The National Park Service is proposing to implement a reservation system for popular front-country hikes and is currently gathering public comments for a new Visitor Use Management Plan.

Submit your comments electronically at parkplanning.nps. gov/zion or by mail: Visitor Use Planning Team/ Zion National Park/ State Route 9/ Springdale, UT 84767-1099