Digital media visibility of US National Parks

The US National Park (NP) system is presently comprised of 63 distinct
protected areas encompassing ∼212,000 km2 (2% of US land area). For over a
century, the US National Park Service has been charged with managing the
NP system, yet faces a paradoxical dual mandate – to both preserve
invaluable national park environmental and cultural resources for future
generations, and to ensure their public accessibility for recreational
enjoyment. Yet with >124 million visitors in 2019, the NPs are at
risk of being ‘loved to death’, as with protected areas the world over.
Against this backdrop, we analyzed the structure and dynamics of this
coupled human-natural system through a public lens constructed from
>426,000 digital media articles mentioning at least one NP. Whereas
NP visitation increased by 29% and federal budget levels decreased by 15%
over the last decade, NP media visibility increased >3900%, with
media articles featuring >1 NP largely associated with tourism
messaging. Hence, despite NPs fostering public appreciation necessary to
protect natural capital, the emergence of ecotourism marketing coupled
with a growing global tourist population has rendered visitation growth
unsustainable.