National Parks Traveler Podcast | Managing Capitol Reef's Visitors

About this episode

The episode discusses the visitor management strategies at Capitol Reef National Park in response to increasing visitation.

Capitol Reef National Park in Utah is one of the Mighty Five, as the state likes to say in its tourism promotions, and while it's somewhat off the beaten path, visitors are finding it. In 2024, visitation to the park was a record 1.4 million, a number that likely increased in 2025 and will continue to increase for the foreseeable future. Cognizant of the rising tide of visitation, the National Park Service staff at Capitol Reef has been working on a visitor use management plan intended to better manage growing visitation. Our guest today is Sue Fritzke, a former superintendent of the park and a member of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks.

People in this episode

Host: Kurt Repanshek

Guest: Sue Fritzke

Topics covered

• visitor management
• national parks
• Capitol Reef
• tourism
• park visitation

Keywords

• Capitol Reef
• visitor management
• National Park Service
• tourism
• Utah
• Sue Fritzke
• national parks

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: National Park Service

Places: Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

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