America's Most Popular National Parks

Above, Grand Canyon National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

What are America's most popular national parks? 

A report has been issued on what are the most popular National Park Service sites and the most popular national parks.

According to WCVB (an ABC affiliate):

(CNN) — Nearly 331 million people visited the National Park Service's 417 sites around the United States in 2017, a slight dip from the 331 million record-breaking visits during its centennial anniversary year in 2016. 

Park service officials expected the slight decline after the centennial celebrations during the previous year. In 2016, the park service recorded its third consecutive all-time attendance record, and 77 national park sites set new records for annual recreation visits. (Of the 417 sites in the National Park Service, 385 count visits.) 

While attendance numbers remained relatively stable, people actually spent more time in the parks in 2017 -- more than 1.4 billion hours last year, an increase of 19 million hours over 2016.

"Our National Parks are being loved to death," said US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in a statement, whose agency oversees the National Park Service.

"As visitor rates continue at a high level, we must prioritize much-needed deferred maintenance including aging facilities, roads and other critical infrastructure. President Trump's proposal to establish a Public Lands Infrastructure Fund is a step in the right direction. This is not a Republican or Democrat issue, this is an American issue, and the President and I remain ready to work with anyone in Congress who is willing to get the job done."

Zinke is referring to the $11.6 billion in deferred maintenance at the nation's 417 National Park Service sites, which include the 59 headliner National Parks as well as national recreation areas, seashores, parkways, memorials, battlefields and more. Increased attendance at the parks, only 118 of which charge admission, means that many locations can't keep up with repairs.

To make the point, the National Park Service released cost estimates for deferred maintenance at each of the top 10 most popular park sites and national parks.

The top three most popular national parks are:

1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park (NC/TN): 11,388,893 visits ($64,049,392 deferred maintenance) 

2. Grand Canyon National Park (AZ): 6,254,238 visits ($329,437,056 deferred maintenance) 

3. Zion National Park (UT): 4,504,812 visits ($65,291,893 deferred maintenance)

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