Yosemite National Park is asking the public for help solving its issues with overcrowding.  The park announced on Thursday that it was evaluating different strategies to manage crowding and asked for public feedback on several issues. 

Visitors have been asked use a form on the National Park Service website between July 6th through September 6th to submit comments.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Yosemite introduced its system of requiring reservations in 2020 as a response to the pandemic, that policy was discontinued in November 2022.

Ahead of the Fourth, crowding became a severe at Yosemite with some visitors waiting for as long as 5 hours just to enter the park. If you’re interested in more information about their quest to relieve overcrowding you can find more information HERE:

Yosmite’s statement on new overcrowding initiative:

“Yosemite National Park will begin a second round of civic engagement to address improving visitor experience and access to the busy park during peak season. The park is seeking input on several key concepts to address improving visitors’ access to and experience of the park’s most significant resources and features while ensuring that those resources are protected.

The 8-week public comment period begins today and will last through September 6, 2023. A virtual public meeting will be held on July 19 at 4 p.m. PDT. For more information and to submit a comment, please visit the project website.

“The plan will address the intense congestion visitors are experiencing this summer and will serve as a guide to protecting Yosemite’s resources and ensuring a high quality visitor experience,” said park superintendent Cicely Muldoon. “This is the opportunity to help shape Yosemite’s future.”

During the first round of public engagement on the planning process December 9, 2022 through February 3, 2023 the park received almost 7,000 comments. The comments helped inform the development of management concepts and refine issue statements. Comments gathered during this period will help the park refine preliminary ideas, strategies, and concepts and will inform the development of future management alternatives.

Yosemite National Park has piloted reservation systems for the last three summers. In 2020 and 2021, the park piloted a reservation system due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the park implemented a “peak hours” reservation system due to extensive construction that was going on throughout the park. There is currently no entry reservation system for 2023, allowing the project team to observe and test the efficacy of those changes and document what issues persist after the implementation of these parking lot and roadway configuration changes.”

images from Yosemite NPS IG

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