Campfire and smoking restrictions are in effect in Yellowstone National Park as fire danger moves to 'Very High'.
Starting Tuesday, campfires are only allowed in designated rings and not allowed in some backcountry campsites. Smoking is only allowed in enclosed vehicles and structures and certain designated outdoor areas.
Smoking restrictions are historically important in Yellowstone—37 years ago during the historical fire season of 1988, the North Fork Fire was started by a discarded cigarette and burned more than 531,000 acres over the course of four months.
So far this summer, the park has logged 20 fires in its boundaries since May 26.
The majority of them have been less than an acre and all are either out or controlled.
Park data show half of these fires have been started by lightning, the other half are human caused.
If you’re planning a trip to the park, check the website www.nps.gov/yell for up to date information about conditions, closures and alerts.
As the park moves into the last stretch of its summer season, newly-released numbers show a small dip in tourism.
New data show Yellowstone counted nearly one million recreational visits in the month of July. With 975,109 unique recreational visits last month, the park is less busy than last July, down by 2 percent, and down 10 percent from its record breaking attendance in July 2021.
So far this year, the park has hosted 2,666,031 recreational visits.
