Headed to a national park this summer? You likely won't need a reservation

As Americans looked for things to do during the pandemic, the wide-open spaces of national parks were particularly appealing. The crowds and the health threat, though, led officials to implement a formal entry reservation system. If you didn't book a prearranged time to go experience nature in all of its grandeur, you would be turned away. Now that policy is coming to an end at many parks.

The National Park Service announced Wednesday that Arches, Glacier, and Yosemite National Parks will no longer require advance reservations.

“Our national parks belong to the American people, and our priority is keeping them open and accessible,” said Kevin Lilly, Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks in a statement. “We’re expanding access where conditions allow and using targeted tools only where necessary to protect visitor safety, maintain emergency access and preserve these extraordinary places for future generations.”

To accommodate the expected increase in visitors, the four parks mentioned in the release plan to boost seasonal staffing and operational readiness. When parking areas or roadways reach capacity, the Park service said, parks "may implement short-term traffic management measures to maintain safe conditions and protect park resources."

Not all parks are doing away with the reservation system. Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, for example, will continue to require reservations during peak periods in the summer and in February-March. And Utah's Zion National Park will still operate a lottery system for its Angels Landing hike.

Not everyone is a fan of the decision. The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks condemned the action Wednesday, warning that bigger crowds could harm the ecosystem and wildlife that call those parks home – and that the staff a those parks would be overwhelmed and unable to quickly respond to emergencies.

“This is yet another ill-advised move by the Administration that threatens the National Park Service’s core mission: to protect our national parks for generations to come," said Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks. "[It] will harm the very places the agency is mandated to protect. If the Administration doesn’t begin to take the care of our parks seriously, we run the risk of squandering America’s greatest treasures.”