National parks saw a record number of visitors in 2024. How many people visited in Wisconsin?

National parks reported a record-high number of nearly 332 million visitors last year, just as President Donald Trump’s mass purge of federal employees hits the agency, causing concern for an uncertain future.

According to new NPS data, 331.9 million recreation visitors traveled to the national parks last year. That’s an increase of 6.36 million recreation visits, or 2%, from 2023. The previous record was set in 2016 with slightly under 330 million visitors.

An internal memo directed at the National Park Service instructed employees to not publicize the visitor information, the New York Times reported, stating the agency would “not issue a press release or other proactive communications, including social media posts” on the visitor data.

The report comes as 1,000 National Park Service employees across the country were fired as part of the Trump administration’s layoffs of thousands of federal employees nationwide, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.

In Wisconsin, thousands of visitors explored national parks, lakeshores and trails across the state. Here’s a breakdown of the latest NPS visitor information in Wisconsin, and how the Trump administration federal layoffs could affect the agency.

How many people visited Wisconsin’s national parks in 2024?

Located in the northern tip of Wisconsin’s Bayfield Peninsula, Apostle Islands welcomed 253,703 visitors in 2024, according to the report. That’s up from the previous year with a recorded 247,167 visitors.

The Apostle Islands, one of the country’s three national lakeshores, faces an uncertain future due to staff layoffs, which could impact accessibility at the park. Local businesses and the $55.7 million economy tied to the park are anticipating a potential downturn due to potential layoffs.

The NPS data also reported that 29,711 people visited the Ice Age Trail in 2024, and 900,828 people visited Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway, located in Wisconsin and Minnesota, last year.

The report did not show visitor data for the North Country Scenic Riverway.

Most visited national parks in the U.S. in 2024:

1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee: 12.1 million
2. Zion National Park in Utah: 4.9 million
3. Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona: 4.9 million
4. Yellowstone National Park in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming: 4.7 million
5. Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado: 4.1 million

Where are the national parks in Wisconsin?

For more information you can visit nps.gov/state/wi.

Summer at Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands threatened by federal workforce cuts, tourism boards warn

Caitlin Looby contributed to this report.