In response to growing crowds at Rocky Mountain National Park, officials are looking at how to approach visitor access.

In May 2021, park staff held two pre-National Environmental Policy Act virtual public meetings on the long-range day use visitor access strategy with 271 people attending the public meetings. Recordings of the meetings were posted on the park’s YouTube channel and the PDFs of the PowerPoint presentation and the visitor management zones map were posted online.

Public comments were invited for over 60 days beginning May 21 through July 26, 2021. During the review period, 571 responses were submitted to the NPS.

To learn more about the pre-NEPA long-range day use visitor access strategy, reports can be found on parkplanning.nps.gov/ROMO_Duvas under “document list.”

Officials explained that these initial public comment meetings and comment opportunities are the first step in the long-range planning process. They assist park staff in defining the issues and their impacts as well as exploring possible strategies and alternatives to address those issues.

Officials added that there will be more opportunities for public involvement in 2023, when the formal NEPA planning process is initiated.