Under a proposal now under review, you'd need a permit to drive to the Bear Lake Road to reach Alberta Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park/Kurt Repanshek file

In an effort to better manage visitation at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, officials are proposing to make permanent timed-entry programs used on a trial basis the past three years.

"This plan is needed to provide day-use visitor access in a way that protects resources while creating opportunities for high-quality visitor experiences," a park release said.

The park experienced a 44 percent increase in visitation from 2012 to 2019. In 2021, the park received 4.4 million visits, making it the second-busiest visitation year. Rapid growth in day-use visitation and changing use patterns in the park have degraded natural and cultural resources, diminished quality of the visitor experience, increased visitor and staff safety concerns, and created a heavy strain on the park’s facilities and ability to perform daily operations. The goal of the plan is to identify strategies that will help protect park resources, offer varied opportunities for high quality visitor experiences, and enhance visitor and staff safety.        

Between 2016 and 2023, the park piloted several day-use visitor management strategies to address crowding, congestion, and impacts on park resources. The park also asked the public for its participation in envisioning the future of day-use visitor access at Rocky Mountain National Park during the summer of 2021 and the winter of 2022-2023. Based on public feedback and information gathered during the pilots, the preferred alternative described in the environmental assessment now open for public input would establish two timed-entry reservation systems, one for the Bear Lake Road Corridor and one for the rest of the park, similar to the 2021, 2022, and 2023 pilots.   

The release did not say when the plan would be implemented, if approved.

Public comment is being taken through December 14. You can learn more about the proposal and leave your comments at this page.

The park will host public open houses on Tuesday, November 14, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Grand Lake Center in Grand Lake, Colorado and Monday, November 27, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Estes Valley Community Center in Estes Park, Colorado. These open houses will provide an opportunity to drop in, meet with National Park Service (NPS) staff, and learn more about the EA and the proposed alternatives. 

The park is also hosting a virtual public meeting on Wednesday, November 8, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. to provide opportunities for the public to learn more about the EA, ask questions of NPS staff, and learn how to provide formal written comments through the PEPC website.  

To participate in the virtual meeting, register at the following link. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information on how to join the Teams Webinar. Park staff recommends joining the webinar via computer to have full use of the webinar tools that Teams provides.  

Registration URL: https://forms.office.com/g/cn47htFcjD