I'm Jason Epperson and it's time for the latest in National Park news at the end of each month we run
down all the news stories that affected national parks and this month is no different but a lot of
the announcements made in December by the National Park Service will affect 2023 travel especially
when it comes to those experimental timed entries into certain national parks so today we'll cover
which Parks will require entry reservations again in 2023 plus there have been some increases in
park funding and the size of certain Parks has increased and we'll also let you know which sites
you might expect to become national parks over the course of the next year but first up that reserved
entry as Parks have become more and more busy with tourists the National Park Service has had to put
in place ways of limiting entry into certain Parks often through these timed reservations
that you book on recreation.gov Rocky Mountain National Parks timed entry system will be back
for the fourth year in a row beginning on May 26th but there are some changes the system is
similar to the one used in 2022 with two types of of reservations available one for the Bear Lake
Road Corridor which includes access to the rest of the park and the second being for the park
excluding the Bear Lake Road Corridor but covers everywhere else that rest of the Park reservation
period will be from 9 A.M to 2 p.m that you can drop into the park before 9 A.M or after
2 p.m without a reservation the system will be in place a bit longer in 2023 as well through October
22nd instead of October 10th permits will allow visitors to enter the park within a scheduled
two-hour window with no set time to leave the cost for booking a reservation is a two dollar fee and
the first reservation will be available through recreation.gov at 8 A.M on Monday May 1st with
reservations available on the first of each month for the following month thereafter it's all a bit
confusing and that's how it's going to go with all the parks so look at their website and it should
make a little bit more sense another change for 23 is that Rocky Mountain will withhold 40 percent
of those reservations to be released the day prior at 5 PM last year it was only 30 percent
those reservations are going to run out quickly so try to book the advanced ones if possible Glacier
National Park will expand its program that has limited visitors using going to the Sun Road in
the summer and it's now including reservations for the East Side destinations like mini Glacier and
two medicine valleys in 2021 Glacier required visitors hoping to drive the iconic going to
the Sun Road to buy one of the limited number of two dollar tickets along with their regular
park pass for entry in 2022 it was expanded to include the North Fork region of the park near
pole Bridge starting in summer of 2023 a ticket will be required to drive into the park during
most daytime hours in Peak visitation months at West Glacier pole bridge to Medicine St Mary and
Minnie Glacier there are different date ranges and requirements for each entrance so check out
the link we put in the description in from the National Park Service that explains it all to you
if you plan to head to Glacier Arches National Park will bring back its timed entry system
which will be in place April 1st through October 31st which is almost a full month longer than in
2022 tickets for arches will go on sale January 10th for April visits and will release monthly
thereafter for May June and so on through October meanwhile Zion National Park will also bring back
the permit lottery for the Park's popular Angels Landing hike at least until February
29th of 2024 but no longer will you have to get reservations to get on buses at Zion National
Park the lottery for hiking Angels landing on dates between March 1st and May 31st begins
on New Year's Day and closes on January 20th it costs six dollars to apply to the lottery which
covers up to six people the permit itself for those who win costs an additional three dollars
per person other lotteries will be held in April July in October for their respective three-month
periods a limited number of day of permits will be available at the ranger station if you miss out on
the lottery reservations will not be required to visit Yosemite National Park during the summer of
2023 as they have in the past but reservations will be required for entry most weekends in
February when Horsetail Falls has its Firefall an orange glow backlit by Sunset which can make it
appear to be on fire this unique lighting effect happens only on evenings with a clear sky when
the waterfall is flowing and when the sun is at the right angle it attracts many visitors to a
very small area causing traffic congestion parking issues and safety concerns I wouldn't count out on
some more changes to reservations as we go forward so keep an eye out and check the respective Park
websites as you plan for trips for all of these reservations you will also need to pay to enter
the park separately unless you have an annual pass you can also check out one of the fee free
days that are scheduled for 2023 they are January 16th which is Martin Luther King Jr Day April 22nd
the first day of National Park week August 4th the anniversary of the Great American outdoors
act in September 23rd which is national public lands day and November 11th which is Veterans
Day we generally suggest that you avoid parks on these days unless you really need to save the
money as they tend to be very busy this episode is supported by Park Wolf the ultimate app for
visiting U.S national parks with parkwolf you can view upcoming places and amenities as you
drive through the park locate the nearest gas food bathrooms and pullover points Park Wolf's Wildlife
Maps show you the best times and places to see or avoid Wildlife along with a feed of the latest
Wildlife sighting photos from the parks Park wolf even makes it possible for you to view your live
location and direction on on official Park Maps while staying up to date on current NPS alerts
and advisories Park wolf keeps working even if you lose service to learn more download the park wolf
app for iPhone free from the Apple App Store today after months of negotiations and delays Congress
has passed an Omnibus spending bill for the fiscal year 2023 which includes a 210 million dollar
increase to the National Park Service budget along with 1.5 billion dollars in disaster funding for
Yellowstone and other parks that were hit hard by natural disasters in 2022. Yellowstone Yosemite
Denali Lake Mead and Death Valley all need to rebuild and recover after record floods severe
storms and hurricanes and drought they plan to rebuild better prepared to withstand future
disasters quote this bill is a sign that lawmakers are picking up the pace on annual National Park
funding and recognize the numerous challenges facing these iconic places said Teresa piererno
president and CEO of national parks Conservation Association this year was a wake-up call as we
witnessed several national disasters take a costly toll on our already underfunded and understaffed
national parks also in in the budget is a 29 million dollar bump for the National Heritage
area program and 447 million for the Army Corps of Engineers South Florida ecosystem restoration
program to continue construction of Everglades restoration projects the bill also designates the
current Pullman National monument in Chicago as a National Historical Park and provides the National
Park Service with the ability to acquire land from willing sellers to perhaps expand that Park
Big Bend National Park has expanded by 4 000 Acres after buying a nearby plot of unused land for the
purchase to be official new legislation will have to pass to change the Park's boundary but the park
has acquired the land owned by the fulture family who sold the land at a discounted rate in the name
of conservation Big Bend already spans more than 800 000 acres and they intend to acquire another
2 000 Acres soon the land was previously used for ranching it does have a poorly maintained road but
most of it it is inaccessible and the park plans to preserve some of the Cottonwood Groves as a
nature preserve for Birds we shared last month that Colorado's Great Sand Dunes National Park was
requiring masks indoors again as cases of covid rise in the surrounding County well now Sequoia
King's Canyon and Gateway Arch are requiring masks again and any other Parks could at any moment as
they monitor the surrounding area case levels if you're heading out to a national park it is best
to be prepared with masks for when you may be needing to enter a building again finally could
we have a couple new full-fledged national parks in 2023 the wheels have been in motion for a while
now to turn Arizona's chiricawa National Monument near the city of Wilcox into a national park in
fact a bill entered the house almost exactly a year ago and it hasn't really gone anywhere yet
but it is expected to pass in the new Congress the area is named for the chirikawa Apache who
once called the region home and it's known for its Rich history and unique rock formations born
by an immense volcanic eruption that hit the region about 27 million years ago it sits at
the intersection of the chair Commons Sonoran Desert and the southern Rocky Mountains and
the northern Sierra Madre in Mexico and it's 18 square miles of a wonderful biological diversity
and a playground for hikers birders and more there's also draft legislation out there to
designate the Chesapeake Bay's 41 million Acres the largest Estuary in the United States as
a national park or other designation the Bay's waters flow through six states Maryland Delaware
Pennsylvania New York Virginia West Virginia and the District of Columbia Maryland legislators plan
to author a bill in the next session of Congress to include the bay in the United States national
park system that's it for this month's National Park news Roundup we hope to see you next time