Isle Royale Forums

The National Park Service released visitor numbers for all the parks for 2019, you can see Isle Royale's number in the attachment or by clicking on this link:

https://irma.nps.gov/STATS/SSRSReports/ ... ?Park=ISRO

the numbers oscillate a lot --- huge jumps around 1985 and 2015, for instance. Maybe it's time for a predator-prey-tourist cycle study?

I recall a recent thread (maybe in the Facebook group?) where somebody pointed out that the method of counting visitors changed at several points. I think that one of the changes was in how the park counts people who come to the Houghton visitor center rather than visit the island itself, and another change related to how the park counts lodge visitors.

Here's a report that is broken down in much more detail: visitors by type.

Take a look at the 2015 vs. 2016 numbers, for example. The number of "Concessionaire Lodging" visitors jumps by 3000, while "Backcountry Campers" drop by more than 7000, and "Miscellaneous Overnight Stays" increases by nearly 12000!

(At least the number of RV Campers has remained constant...)

It's interesting looking at both reports -- it seems the first report counts total number of visitors, the report you posted seems to count overnight stays. I do love that RV line!