America’s outdoor permits are not solving overcrowding

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK is almost always brimming with visitors. For two weeks each February, however, the crowd intensifies. For just a few minutes each day, the setting sun lines up with Horsetail Fall, lighting the waterfall so that it appears to be lava. “Firefall” has become a tourist spectacle: it drew over 2,000 visitors on a single day. Big crowds have big drawbacks, though, risking environmental degradation, unsafe conditions and wildlife disruption.

The National Park Service (NPS) introduced a permit for the spectacle in 2021 because of covid-19, but lifted restrictions this year. “It’s a disaster,” says one of a pair of photographers frustrated with the number of visitors and lack of restrictions this year. Surrounding their painstaking set-up was a long queue of cars and large groups shouting to one another while they waited for the sunset. The pair preferred the permit system, which limited the crowds.

But are permits the solution to overcrowding? America’s parks have many permitting methods, from digital sign-ups to bingo balls in community centres. The aim is to keep visits sustainable and access fair. The results are mixed.

Some permits are effective. The delicate sandstone feature known as “The Wave” near Kanab, Utah, can cope with only a trickle of visitors without suffering rapid erosion. The...