Visitors to Cuyahoga Valley National Park decrease for 2013; park attendance also down nationwide
3/15/2014BRECKSVILLE, Ohio — The number of Cuyahoga Valley National Park visitors has slipped, dropping the northeast Ohio spot from 10th to 11th among the most-visited U.S. national parks.
The park between Cleveland and Akron drew 2.1 million visitors last year, down from nearly 2.3 million in 2012.
It ranked 38th in attendance among all U.S. National Park Service properties, which include historic sites and monuments. Cuyahoga Valley ranked just behind Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
The new superintendent tells The Plain Dealer that many of Cuyahoga Valley’s users visit repeatedly, while more remote parks are often seen more as one-time destinations.
The total visitors to the park system overall also decreased last year. The service partly blamed the federal budget crisis that closed parks for more than two weeks last fall.