WASHINGTON –Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, is leading the Utah congressional delegation in calling on U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to reject the Department’s proposed Visitor Use Management Plan (VUM), which would impose a parkwide reservation-based system for Zion National Park. Joining Senator Lee on the letter are Senator John Curtis (R-UT) and Representatives Blake Moore (R-UT), Mike Kennedy (R-UT), Celeste Maloy (R-UT), and Burgess Owens (R-UT).

Zion National Park’s draft VUM plan, expected later this summer, is the latest iteration of a proposal first floated in 2017. State and local leaders have repeatedly warned that the economic consequences of such a reservation-based system would be severe.

Data from the National Park Service show that after a similar reservation system was implemented at Arches National Park in 2022, visitor spending in Grand County dropped 12.4 percent in the first year and an additional 6.5 percent the next. Applying that trend to Zion’s would result in an estimated $128 million annual loss for Utah’s gateway communities.

The plan comes as Utah has already made significant progress in addressing congestion and improving the visitor experience without reducing access. These include:

• $18 million in state funding for critical infrastructure improvements tied directly to visitor capacity and public safety.
• A regional recreation management plan coordinated with the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and local governments to disperse visitors, improve transit connections, and reduce congestion.
• Targeted public outreach efforts on major projects, including upcoming vehicle restrictions on the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway.

The delegation’s letter urges Secretary Burgum to cancel the VUM plan and instead support the locally driven strategies already in motion.

Full text of the letter is available HERE

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