Campground Workgroup Items 02/2021

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Figure 3:A Pandemic Surge in State Park Stickers State park vehicle stickers purchased by year,2013-2020* 500K Resident Stickers ®Nonresident Stickers Reduced Rate Stickers 400K 300K 200K PI! . !I! !I! II! 100K OK 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Source:Department of Natural Resources *Yearly totals are for January-November each year because December 2020 data is not yet available. COVID-19 also accelerated the previous growth in • At Lion's Den Gorge Nature Preserve in Ozaukee annual trailpass sales for all-terrain and utility terrain County, an entrance count shows 2020 visitors vehicles in Wisconsin. From last April - the starting topped 269,000, more than two-and-a-half month for trailpass sales - through December, annual times the typical levels of around 100,000 per trailpass sales rose 32.7%over the comparable months year. in 2019 (see Figure 4)and were the highest by far in the decade of available data. Five-day passes also hit the highest levels in the available data. Figure 4:ATV Usage Peaks Local Parks and Federal Lands See Interest ATV trailpass sales*from April through December,2010-2020 One of the striking aspects of the jump in outdoor 20K pursuits is the breadth of the activities that saw a surge in interest.The DNR reports that downloads of popular phone applications that aid birdwatchers have seen 15K year-over-year increases that far outpace those of recent years,and visits to their birding and bird conservation webpage more than tripled from April 10K through June 2020 over the same period in 2019. One popular birdwatching app,eBird, also saw a year-over- year spring increase in submitted checklists from 5K Wisconsin of 27%, far outpacing the growth seen in other recent years. In other examples: OK 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 • The city of Madison saw its 2020-21 sales of Source:Department of Natural Resources cross country ski permits for its parks nearly *Sales are tonon-residents only since residents only need to properly register double those of any previous year. their vehicle. • After three roughly stable years,the Ice Age Trail • Bike path counters show non-motorized traffic Alliance saw membership as of Jan. 2021 rise on the Racine County North Shore Trail and the by 53.2%over the previous year. New Berlin Trail were up 74.9%and 58.4% • During the peak months of April through respectively in 2020. October,the Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway saw total visits increase by 25.3%- WI3 THE WISCONSIN TAXPAYER I FEBRUARY 2021