I don’t live in this part of Montana...I live in western MT and we have been inundated with folks from out of state over here...this region saw a jump in tourism like never before. Most locals found it disturbing, as did I. It continues because lots of them haven’t left. They’ve bought 2nd and 3rd homes so they have a place to ride out the pandemic. They brought Covid with them too. Our case numbers have risen steadily from the start of tourist season through today.
If it felt like state parks such as Milltown, Placid Lake and Frenchtown Pond were unusually crowded this summer, you weren't imagining things.
The 10 state parks in the Missoula-headquartered Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Region 2 saw a combined 421,000 visitors through September of this year, compared to 288,000 in the same time period last year. That's a 46.2% increase, the highest jump of any of the regions in the Montana State Parks system.
"Those are just insane numbers," explained Loren Flynn, the FWP regional park manager. "We've never seen anything like that. We have 10 parks in our region, and every park saw an increase. I was really proud of our staff that did their best to provide service given the crazy circumstances."
Nearly 66,000 people visited Milltown State Park this summer, a 105% increase over last year. And 20,000 of those visitors came in July alone.
https://missoulian.com/news/local/data-state-parks-in-montana-see-huge-increase-in-visitors/article_0b4619fa-9678-50f3-a315-8d00c0eb947b.html#tracking-source=home-top-story
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